FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile
Author/narrator Amber McBride begins this audiobook with a trigger warning that the story involves depression, suicide, and self-harm. Whimsy, newly released from rehabilitation, meets a fae boy, Faerry. They are bound by the commonality of magic, unexpressed grief, and determination to find healing through mutual support. McBride brings a special gift to this production by narrating her own material. Skillfully, her pacing reflects the verse format of her novel, providing the rhythms she intends to her words. McBride’s narration expresses strong feelings for her characters as she uses lyricism to merge fairy-tale worlds, magical realism, and harsh realities into a complex web describing a search for wholeness. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/21/2022
McBride, the author of Me (Moth), employs lilting poetic wordplay to weave familiar fairy tales with original, resonant fables in this haunting verse novel. When human poet Whimsy is hospitalized with clinical depression, she meets and immediately connects with a Fae boy named Faerry. After getting discharged, she learns that Faerry has just moved into a house on Whimsy’s street and soon realizes their intense familiarity hints at a shared past that neither of them seems to remember. Working together to unearth buried memories, the teens battle a fantastical physical embodiment of sorrow and struggle to face their inexplicable fear of the forest at the end of their street. Sparse yet expressive verse (“We are floating in a circle/ made from hope & crystal wings”) grounds mystical happenings, such as Whimsy and Faerry’s meetings with characters from classic fairy tales and folklore, including Anansi, Baba Yaga, and Snow White. Drawing from personal experience, as detailed in a beginning note, McBride delivers a dark, whimsical adventure that viscerally depicts experiences of clinical depression, generational trauma, racism, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and survivor’s guilt. A glossary of the fairy tales referenced concludes. Whimsy and Faerry are Black. Ages 14–17. Agent: Rena Rossner, Deborah Harris Agency. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
A 2024 Texas Library Association TAYSHAS Selection
A Common Sense Media Best Media of 2023 Selection
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2023
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2023
A 2024 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection (YALSA)
A 2024 Bank Street Best Book of the Year
"Stunning... Readers will revel in the depth of Whimsy and Faerry’s relationship, all the while finding solace and relief in the calculated messiness of their search for wholeness." —Booklist, starred review
"This phenomenal novel-in-verse transports readers into an impassioned tale of heartache and hope that belongs on every bookshelf serving teens." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Raw and poignant and promising hope, even when it seems there is no way out." —Shelf Awareness, starred review
"The choice of verse to tell this absorbing story is a strong one; readers are drawn along by the intense and vivid imagery, and the depictions of clinical depression, guilt, and grief are visceral. McBride explores the impact of the intersection between Blackness and mental illness ... and the difficulties of two unusual young people finding refuge through friendship from the pressures the world exerts on them. Whimsy’s practice of Hoodoo and the empowerment she receives from the magic inside and around her help her contend with her depression and unravel her grief without negating a brutal, yet ultimately hopeful, reality. ..Important messages uniquely delivered." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"McBride makes exceptional use of the verse novel format, with some poems reading almost as detailed and descriptive prose, while other entries are just a few judiciously chosen lines that make readers slow down and work a bit to parse out full meaning." —Bulletin of the Center of Children's Books, starred review
"McBride shares visceral insights into the experience of deep clinical depression. I found reading this beautiful book to be one of the most validating experiences of my life."—NIc Stone, The New York Times
"This is a story about the power of stories and how they can help us survive the darkest times." —NPR
"Elevates everything that made McBride’s debut novel, Me (Moth), such a success. Readers ... will especially enjoy its blend of magic and emotion." —BookPage
"Raw and poignant and promising hope, even when it seems there is no way out... promises hope." —Shelf Awareness
"McBride’s lush free-verse poetry creates a vibrant world teetering between the real and the magical, but the images and atmosphere act as background to serious issues ... Although the subject matter is heavy, the book serves as a reminder that, as sorrow and loss come for everyone, no one is alone. Back matter addresses mental health and expands on the story’s elements from fairy tales and folklore." —The Horn Book
"A heartbreaking yet hopeful look inside the mind of a young person reeling from unimaginable trauma. McBride’s characters are likeable and relatable; honest, vulnerable, and exceedingly brave...giving the reader hope that both characters, along with their parents, will be okay." —School Library Connection
School Library Journal
★ 01/01/2023
Gr 9 Up—After her parents discover a list Whimsy wrote of ways to stop breathing, she is in the hospital again for clinical depression. She meets fellow patient Faerry, a boy who she perceives as having magical qualities. They subsequently discover they are neighbors, connecting over their intense poetry and their shared experience of being the only two Black kids around. No one understands they are sinking while they are smiling; when you are bruise-less, things are harder to explain. As they begin their healing journey together, they recognize their lives are interwoven by past trauma. The atmospheric imagery and metaphors throughout have such a strong and remarkable undercurrent in this novel-in-verse. The anthropomorphic forest evolves into setting as character. As Whimsy and Faerry push through the forest garden together, they face their demons as part of intricate and unique fairy-tale sequences that represent their layers of depression. Raw and fervent, these characters are cut open literally and figuratively to battle Sorrow, because the only way out is through. Hoodoo is intertwined as they unravel riddles to find the truth and the cause of their shared trauma. The author's prologue invites readers into her own authentic experiences with depression, offers a nod to Lucille Clifton, and provides a content warning for clinical depression, self-harm, and suicide. McBride also features resources for mental health, a glossary of the fairy tales and folklore embodied within, and a playlist for Whimsy and Faerry. VERDICT This phenomenal novel-in-verse transports readers into an impassioned tale of heartache and hope that belongs on every bookshelf serving teens.—Lisa Krok
FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile
Author/narrator Amber McBride begins this audiobook with a trigger warning that the story involves depression, suicide, and self-harm. Whimsy, newly released from rehabilitation, meets a fae boy, Faerry. They are bound by the commonality of magic, unexpressed grief, and determination to find healing through mutual support. McBride brings a special gift to this production by narrating her own material. Skillfully, her pacing reflects the verse format of her novel, providing the rhythms she intends to her words. McBride’s narration expresses strong feelings for her characters as she uses lyricism to merge fairy-tale worlds, magical realism, and harsh realities into a complex web describing a search for wholeness. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-10-11
Being hospitalized again for suicidal ideation is a bleak situation for anyone, especially Whimsy, a girl with the soul of a poet.
Waiting to go home to parents struggling to connect with her (her older brother has been missing for a decade) and a school where she is one of few Black students, a bright spot appears in Whimsy’s life. Green-haired Faerry—former fellow patient, new neighbor, and an actual Fae—befriends her. After he is lost in the Forest near her home, Whimsy sets off to find him and enters a garden populated by folklore and fairy-tale figures. A witch, a siren, a princess, and ghosts challenge and help her as she and Faerry struggle to escape Sorrow, the sinister entity keeping them from finding their way home. The choice of verse to tell this absorbing story is a strong one; readers are drawn along by the intense and vivid imagery, and the depictions of clinical depression, guilt, and grief are visceral. McBride explores the impact of the intersection between Blackness and mental illness on Faerry and Whimsy and the difficulties of two unusual young people finding refuge through friendship from the pressures the world exerts on them. Whimsy’s practice of Hoodoo and the empowerment she receives from the magic inside and around her help her contend with her depression and unravel her grief without negating a brutal, yet ultimately hopeful, reality.
Important messages uniquely delivered. (foreword, author’s note, resources, glossary, playlist) (Verse novel. 12-18)
