Book Review of Into the Faerie Hill
The Children’s Book Review
What to Expect: Magic, faeries, disability, difference, fitting in, friendship, adventure.
A loner with uneven legs, strange hair, and the ability to see things no one else can, Alfred has always felt different from the other kids—and that feeling gets stronger and stronger the more time he spends at his granny’s house. That’s because the house, and the countryside around it, is teeming with creatures that Alfred has realized are definitely not human, and that no one else seems to be able to see.
His new friend Saga can’t see them either, but she knows what they are: faeries. With her extensive knowledge of faeries, Saga is the perfect person to enlist the faeries’ help in stopping the building of a new highway that will plow right through the faerie hill and wreak devastation on the surrounding habitats. What’s more, Alfred has realized she’s also the perfect person to help him unravel the mystery of his mother, who disappeared 7 years ago and who, Alfred is more and more convinced, may have vanished into the faerie realm.
Alfred’s not used to having a friend, and he’s especially not used to sharing his secrets and worries with another person—but with his Dad working on the highway project and his granny unwilling to let him take risks, Saga may be his only hope. To get the truth about his mother—and stop the only route to where she might be from being destroyed—Alfred is going to have to learn how to do something really difficult: he’s going to have to learn to be part of a team.
In this middle-grade novel, traditional fairy and folklore traditions get an update for the modern world. Alfred lives in a world of cell phones, digging machines, news vans, and high-top shoes, but he also lives in a world where water sprites swim in the streams, wooden figurines can come to life, and shadows can be snipped off with sharp scissors by malicious fairies. Alfred himself is smart, brave, and curious, but he’s also come to believe what other people tell him about his abilities and worth. Readers will love watching the combination of his adventures and Saga’s unwavering friendship build his self-esteem and self-belief back up.
Enchanting, uplifting, and nuanced, this is the perfect novel for any reader who loves adventures into magical other worlds.
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About the Author
H. S. Norup is the award-winning author of The Hungry Ghost and The Missing Barbegazi, a Sunday Times Book of the Year in 2018. She grew up in Denmark, where she devoured fairy tales and escaped into books. After living in six different countries, she now resides in Switzerland and writes stories inspired by her travels, set in the borderlands between the real and imaginary worlds. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her time outdoors either skiing, hiking, swimming, or taking photos.
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