The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making is a very complicated but awesome book by Catherynne M. Valente. September, an ordinary 12 year old girl, is tired of washing pink teacups and playing with the same small amiable dog, and longs for adventure, the kind of adventure girls have in fairy tales. But she can’t find very much of that in Omaha, Nebraska. That’s why when the green wind rides up on a leopard and asks if September wants to go to Fairyland, she immediately accepts. (Wouldn’t you?) But there’s trouble in Fairyland, and September needs to sort it all out; and of course, there is fun included.

Through all her problems and adventures, September has always had friends to help her. All, strange, yes, one being made out of soap, another being half dragon half library. And she’s made many sacrifices along the way for other creature’s benefits, including trading her shadow for a pooka girl’s safety. She also has visited some very strange cities, like a city where it’s always Autumn, and a city made out of yarn. “I wonder if every city in Fairyland is made of some strange thing?” is all September can say when she steps through the bread gates of a town made all out of golden-brown baked goods.

I thought I wouldn’t like this book at first because I thought it was one of those magical-land books where the character goes on the same boring old-fashioned adventures, wishes to go home, and gets home. But it’s more of a mix between a book of riddles and The Wizard of Oz, with the bad parts of each taken out. So I would recommend this book to people who like both. I like both, and I loved this book, though at some points it got a little too crazy to understand the direction of the story. I would rate this book 4 stars because I loved it, but it was hard to understand at some points and it got a little boring towards the middle. But don’t stop reading in the beginning, because that’s what I did, but my mom told me to keep reading, and it got better.

P.S: The book’s as good as the title!