The Tragical Tale of Birdie Bloom

by Temre Beltz

Overview

A hilarious and heartwarming stand-alone middle grade debut, The Tragical Tale of Birdie Bloom is a whimsically fractured fairy tale perfect for fans of Shannon Hale and Adam Gidwitz.

In the fairy-tale kingdom of Wanderly, everyone has a role.

Birdie Bloom is a Tragical—an orphan doomed to an unhappy ending. Agnes Prunella Crunch is a witch. The wicked kind.

In Wanderly, a meeting between a witch and a Tragical can only end one way: tragically. But with the help of some mysterious Winds, a few wayward letters, and a very unusual book, the two might just form the kingdom’s unlikeliest friendship—and together, rewrite their story into one that isn’t very Tragical at all.

“I absolutely ADORED Birdie’s story from beginning to end. The most charming book, footnotes and all!”—Liesl Shurtliff, New York Times bestselling author of Rump

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062835833
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Temre Beltz used to work as a lawyer but never outgrew her childhood love of fairy tales. Temre lives in sunny California with her husband and two daughters. They love family road trips and are always on the lookout for adventure, ice cream, and books. She is the author of The Triumphant Tale of Pippa North and The Tragical Tale of Birdie Bloom. You can visit Temre online at www.temrebeltz.com.

Editorial Reviews

Charming and darkly funny, this debut has definite shades of Roald Dahl—it’s a natural successor to Matilda and The Witches. Middle-grade readers who like their fairy tales playing against the rules and their adventure stories with a dash of humor will gobble this up.” — ALA Booklist

“I absolutely ADORED Birdie’s story from beginning to end. The most charming book, footnotes and all!” — Liesl Shurtliff, New York Times bestselling author of Rump

“Dragons, witches, and resourceful orphans? Magic, adventure, and friendship? There is so much to love about Birdie’s tragical tale!” — Jessica Day George, New York Times bestselling author of the Tuesdays at the Castle series

From the Publisher

Charming and darkly funny, this debut has definite shades of Roald Dahl—it’s a natural successor to Matilda and The Witches. Middle-grade readers who like their fairy tales playing against the rules and their adventure stories with a dash of humor will gobble this up.

ALA Booklist

I absolutely ADORED Birdie’s story from beginning to end. The most charming book, footnotes and all!

Liesl Shurtliff

Dragons, witches, and resourceful orphans? Magic, adventure, and friendship? There is so much to love about Birdie’s tragical tale!

Jessica Day George

03/01/2019

Gr 3–5—In this light fantasy debut, Birdie Bloom, a young resident of Foulweather's Home for the Tragical, unknowingly begins a correspondence with a bored witch and dramatically changes her life and the lives of the people around her. In Wanderly, Chancellor-approved stories describe what one's life can be; for a Tragical, there aren't any good possibilities. Even the witch Agnes Prunella Crunch is restricted to the spells contained in The Book of Evil Deeds. Agnes, who is more grumpy than scary, finds nothing satisfying in this book so she writes a letter which the Winds of Wanderly decide to take to Birdie's isolated home, where Birdie and the other children are learning important Tragical skills. This story has dragons, large insects, and discussions of eating a child, but the worst that happens to the child is that the rubber on his sneakers melts. The majority of the characters are well rounded and experience growth as the story progresses. Most of the witches are described as "ugly."(Agnes is "saggy" and "squishy" and not at all fond of glitter.) The story can be overly cute at times, especially in the extensive footnotes, but young readers may find this more entertaining than annoying. VERDICT Recommended for filling out fantasy collections with a light, not-too-scary offering.—Judy Poyer, Anne Arundel County Public Library, MD

School Library Journal

2018-12-16

Here's a book about orphans that will make people feel guilty for reading it.

In one of the most meta twists of all time, this story is narrated by the actual book, as in: "It is a pleasure to meet you. Truly. Life as a book is not as easy as one might think." Readers will feel even worse than usual if they spill their drinks on the footnote-festooned pages or dog-ear the corners. But the story has plenty of other meta touches. All the orphans have read stories about orphans and expect to come to a tragic end. In fact, it's required by law. They're forced to sign Tragical Oaths, such as, "When faced with a fatal threat, I will not fight back or retreat under any circumstances." Every character in the novel is, by definition, cartoonish. (The witches even have purple or slime-green hair.) Even book-loving orphan Birdie is a bit cartoonish. Under those circumstances, it's difficult for a character to be outrageous or over-the-top, but the narrator achieves it simply by talking nonstop, even when it interrupts the story. Many readers will find this distracting, and they may skip pages to get back to the characters' exploits. The cover art suggests that Birdie is white, and the book adheres to the white default.

This book may feel postmodern, but at its heart, there's an old-fashioned, gripping adventure story. It's a shame that it's so difficult to find it. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews