Growing Up Sucks

Hello all, flipping through my completed book stack (I love watching it grow) and realized there are a bunch of books I finished on my trip that I haven't rambled about yet.  To remedy that let's ramble about Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu.  This is a novel length retelling of The Snow Queen (which has always been one of my favorites).  This book is a perfect one to read in the winter, as the cold and icy atmosphere are very much part of the story.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD.

Hazel is having a rough time, her whole entire life has been turned topsy turvy by the divorce of her parents.  She has been taken out of her private school that encouraged individualism, creativity and other unorthodox methods of learning and plunked into the local public school into the fifth grade class taught by Mrs. Jacobs who likes things to be as orderly as possible.  Hazels only consolation is that her best friend Jack is in the classroom next to hers and sometimes plays with her at recess.  Hazel has a hard time making friends as she is a dreamer and a bit of a geek (seriously the references in this book to other books and geekdom are
pretty cool), even when she is approached by other kids, she tends to not really know how to interact with them. Jack on the other hand does have multiple friends, two other boys in particular whom he hangs out with when he is not with Hazel.  One of the boys is pretty mean to Hazel, ensuring that Jack must constantly choose one or the other.  To make matters worse, her teacher is constantly on Hazel to pay attention, which Hazel finds difficult and her mother is constantly after her to try and be more "normal" or at least try and live in the real world a bit more.  In an interlude we learn about a nasty little goblin who made a mirror that reflects only the worst in people.  He then purposely shattered it, sending pieces of it all over the world to wreak havoc.  One day when they are playing in the snow Jack gets hit in the eye with a snow ball and all of a sudden gets kind of mean.  He starts ignoring Hazel and hanging out exclusively with his guy friends.  This really gets to Hazel, who always felt she could depend on Jack to be there for her, to be creative with her and to always accept her for who she is.  This new Jack is not the one who was her friend.  Hazels mother tells her that sometimes as you grow up people change, and maybe Jack is just starting to outgrow some of the "childish" (Mom's words) games they were playing.  This upsets Hazel in multiple ways, and she tries to "grow up" herself.  This results in her giving up all of her imaginary worlds, and creative games.  Her grades improve and she quits getting in trouble, but
everybody notices that she does not seem to be herself anymore.  Jacks friend Tyler gets a hold of Hazel and tells her he thinks that something is wrong.  When Hazel goes to try and visit Jack they make some vague reference to him going to help an elderly aunt.  Tyler tells Hazel he thinks he saw Jack go into the woods with a snowy white lady.  The second part of the book has Hazel going into the forest and into what seems like a fairy tale world...except for that it is all twisted.  The people who seem most helpful are the ones who want to keep her there, or have some sort of twisted revenge. It is actually the wolves in the end that are the most helpful.  Through out her journey Hazel learns more about herself, and also has to face the possibility that Jack might not want to return home (his mother is suffering from sever depression, making his life very hard), or that even if he does he and Hazel may not have the same relationship.  Hazel eventually finds Jack in the middle of the Snow Queens realm.  Hazel challenges the Snow Queen who tells her that if Jack chooses to leave of his own accord that she will not stop them.  Hazel finally convinces Jack to return home and leads him back through the forest.  When they get back, it is like they never left.  Jack goes home and Hazel is now ready to face growing up and what lies ahead.

I have always loved the Snow Queen stories.  I think it is one of the few old ones that actually has the girl rescue the boy.  I have also always loved that the Snow Queen is not really the villain in this story (that would be the evil goblin who made the mean glass mirror), but a person who allows people to try and work out who they really are.  This version of the story was a bit sad, a bit frustrating, a bit melancholy and a bit dreamy.  For being a book about 5th graders I found it to be a bit depressing.  Every kid had some serious emotional stuff to get through, this is unfortunately realistic, but did not make it an escape book by any means.  Even when we switch to the more magical second half we see Hazels happy idea's of fairy tales take a hard downward turn, with the characters that inhabit these woods all having horrible things of their own to deal with.  I'm not sure how I feel about this, I know again that this is all real stuff that people have to deal
with, but there did not seem to be a lot of hope for something better anywhere in the story.  I couldn't tell if the author was telling us that you should be who you are, dreamy, creative and lost in your own world, but that you won't have any friends and nobody will understand you.  Or if maybe the point was we all have to
grow up sometime and that these things are childish and have no place in the real world...I never really was sure what I was supposed to get out of the whole thing.  The ending was pretty abrupt and open ended, not really telling us if Hazel and Jack ended up as friends, or started growing apart.  We never learn if Hazel took her experiences in the woods as a lesson in growing up or proof that the imaginary could be real or some combination of the two. There are some bright spots in the book, the author manages to incorporate some awesome books into the story, like A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, and a delicious little jaunty wink to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Hazel also makes a bit of a new friend in Adelaide who proves that being rich does not necessarily make you snobby and that ballet can be awesome, not just something for feminists to rail against.  I also like that Hazel was adopted from India, giving her a bit more of an identity crisis, giving her one more reason she felt like she did not belong.  Over all I found this to be a good little read for the winter months and enjoyed the literary references (the author obviously loves her books).  I did however find it to be a bit depressing and while I do not always need my books to end with pat answers and a perfect ending, a little more hope at the end would have been nice.  I give this book 6 out of 10 frozen tiaras.
What is your favorite old fairy tale?  Do you find books like this realistic or depressing?  Is ballet something wonderful and magical, or something that is forced upon to many little girls?