The Great Good Thing
Common Sense Note
This philosophical story raises questions about the natures and interactions of stories, readers, authors, and characters, and could provoke some very interesting discussions at home or school.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
It has often been said that one of the great things about books is that the characters and story are there, waiting for the reader to bring them to life. In this story, this is literally true -- when the book is closed, blue back-up lights come on, and the characters find ways to pass the time until the next time they get to reenact their story.
This offbeat, philosophical little book is not for every child. Though it certainly has some action and adventure, it also introduces some big ideas about the nature of reality, mortality, dreams, and artistic creation. But for a child who loves books, thinking, and wondering it is a unique treasure, and a new way to look at the world of imagination.
From the Book:
At that moment, a fan of light began opening in a corner of the sky, sending flashes of color across the water. Sylvie wiped her eyes as the woods brightened. A breeze flew through the treetops, knocking against branches as it went.
"Rawwwwk! Reader! Reader!" cried an orange bird, bursting into the air.
"Booook open!" groaned a bullfrog. "Ooopen! Booook open!" ...
Sylvie had the farthest to go -- all the way to page 3 -- but she knew the shortcuts between description and arrived, hot-cheeked, just as a shadow moved over the land and the face of an enormous child peered down on her.
Plot Summary:
"Sylvie had an amazing life, but she didn't get to live it very often."From that auspicious opening sentence springs the story of Princess Sylvie, a character in a book that has been gathering dust for years. While waiting for a Reader, the characters while away the time, but when a Reader finally opens the Book they all scramble to take their places and enact the story yet again.
Sylvie, bored and curious, breaks the rules and finds her way out of the Book and into the dreams of a Reader named Claire. Her parents are outraged, but when Claire's brother accidentally sets fire to the Book, it is Sylvie who leads the characters into Claire's mind. There they attempt to reconstruct the story, but freedom from the Book's strictures, as well as the vagaries of Claire's maturing mind, brings unwelcome changes. As Claire ages, their continued survival may depend on the mysterious "girl with the dark blue eyes," who flits through Claire's dreams and waking thoughts and seems to know all about the Book.
Related Books:
Also by Roderick Townley
Into the Labyrinth (sequel)
More Metafiction
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Travel Far, Pay No Fare by Anne Lindbergh
The Bookstore Mouse by Peggy Christian
Summer Reading is Killing Me by Jon Scieszka
Bad Dreams by Ann Fine
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
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