The Boy Who Lost Fairyland

Thomas' parents, who don't know he's a changeling, grind him down with the insistence that he be "normal." The fairies abuse changeling children, imprisoning them, putting them into forced labor, and making them change shapes for the fairies' entertainment. Cosmic upheaval looms, and a character is pursued by an unseen assassin. A character stabs a giant who's holding her captive; no long-lasting ill effects.

The sheer silliness of obsessing over sex and gender is something of a recurring theme in the series, as here: "Grown-Ups talked about not leaving boys and girls Alone Together in quiet, concerned voices. As if something terrible might happen if a boy and a girl were brought too near each other without shields and swords. As if they were baking soda and vinegar and only the presence of other people kept them from becoming a volcano." As in previous installments, the exuberant world-creation includes a bit of gender-bending, as with the character Mr. Benjamin Franklin, who's a woman. In a hilariously awkward scene, a changeling character asks his parents what "married" means.

As in previous volumes, some references to parents' liquor supply; rum, a kid says to his horrified parents, is "the brown stuff in the cabinet that tastes like cake on fire. I gave some to the phonograph and she drank it all up, so I know it's good." Whiskey bottles are among the random projectiles that fly about in the course of many descriptions.

Parents need to know that The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, the fourth book in Catherynne M. Valente's five-volume Fairyland series, throws readers a curve by devoting most of its pages to characters we've never seen before, including the one referred to in the title. Once again, the language is exuberantly lush, the characters intriguing and relatable, and the plot a never-ending series of unexpected developments. It's a natural for kids who love gorgeous words, sly historic and cultural references, and cosmic peril. Some violence is cartoonish (such as a character stabbing a monster), while there's some emotional abuse (for example, a changeling character's parents can't stand the fact that he's not "normal"). Sex is not really on the radar of the 12-year-old (in human years) protagonists, although a few passing narrative remarks dance humorously around the issue. There's a bit of playful gender-bending, as some female characters have male names and vice versa.