Monday, May 30, 2011

Book Review: The World Above by Cameron Dokey


Cameron Dokey is the author of a "series" called Once Upon a Time. She takes well known fairy tales and retells them in a unique way. The World Above is a spin off of Jack and the Beanstalk. It also had a bit of Robin Hood in it, which I thought was clever. This quote is part of the little blurb page in the front of the book: "For better or worse, there was only going forward. There was only going up. Seizing the trunk of the beanstalk with both hands, I pushed off from the World Below and began to climb." Gen grew up with her twin brother, Jack, and their mother on a tiny farm. Their mother told them bedtime stories of the World Above, their real home. Gen never truly believed them, thinking they were just stories. But Jack believed. He believed that their father had been killed by Duke Guy and that their mother had escaped down a beanstalk to the World Below to save all their lives. He also believed that one day they would need to return and claim what was rightly their's. But Gen was always skeptical. She learns a lot about herself when the time comes to throw a magic bean over her shoulder and climb into the clouds to save her brother, and maybe a whole unknown land. I really enjoyed this book, and I have enjoyed all of Dokey's novels. They are clever and fun. 100% clean. It was a quick read (I read it in a day) and only 175 pages. I highly recommend this cute fairy tale.

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