Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fairyland author channels Brontë kids in wild fantasy tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
As THE GLASS TOWN GAME opens, Charlotte (12), Branwell (11), Emily (10), and Anne Brontë (8) are still dealing with the recent deaths of their beloved mother and two older sisters when the Beastliest Day arrives: the day Charlotte and Emily must leave their happy parsonage home for the awful boarding school where cold, beatings, and starvation have already proved the death of poor Maria and Lizzie. But at the train station, they are whisked away to a strange land they slowly recognize as the world they created for their childhood games. Anything's better than that school, and besides, says Charlotte hopefully, nothing we made up in our heads can really hurt us, right? But things aren't that simple: Imaginary characters take on a life of their own, and deadly wars are all too real.
Is It Any Good?
Not one to shrink from a challenge, author Catherynne M. Valente creates a story of the tween-age Brontë children on a wildly imaginative life-or-death quest in a world they made up themselves. The Glass Town Game's barrage of surreal characters, literary references and in-jokes, historical figures, random events, and moral quandaries won't be every reader's dish, and there are times when it doesn't quite come together. But as often happens in Valente's works, occasional moments of wry humor, poignant sadness, or triumphant sweetness more than reward the sometimes-bumpy trek to get there.
"'Charlotte, I dreamed we were back at School,' choked Emily, her mouth horribly dry.
"'Don't worry, Em,' Charlotte said, smiling as hard as she could while she smoothed her dress and tucked her hair back into place. 'We're only in an insane, upside-down world populated by our toys, our stories, and Napoleon riding a giant chicken on fire. Nothing so bad as School.'"
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about fan fiction -- in this case, a well-known author and Brontë fan making up a story about even better-known authors from the past. Does The Glass Town Game make you want to rush out and read the Brontë sisters' novels? Or, if you've read them already, did it change your perspective? What do you think the Brontës would think about a fantasy book featuring them as kids?
How do artists' experiences, especially in childhood, influence their works? What elements do you recognize that later became elements in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and so forth?
If you and your friends spend a lot of time in made-up worlds, do you also include historical figures and present-day famous people in your cast of characters? Which ones?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Rebecca Green
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures , Book Characters , Family Stories ( Siblings )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Margaret K. McElderry
- Publication date : September 5, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 10 - 18
- Number of pages : 544
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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