This is about book 20. It’s a major disappointment. It came from a reputable publisher, by a very well known author, with beautiful book making… but the book is NOT charming, NOT funny (at least not to most children, I would imagine,) NOT really clever, NOT thrilling, NOT moving, and NOT able to keep me from putting down the book time and time again — indeed a major let down.
And, it has one of my all time pet peeve: a “device” that the author failed to carry out consistently or logically. In this one, there is no way that the narrator would have put certain things down the way they appear in words on the paper. There is a drastic disconnect between what the “proposed” and the actual narrative voice. Instead of being ingenuous and clever, this device became a totally gimmick — a trick that looks funny on the cover but fails to satisfy its promise. *sigh* I know the next book is going to make me happier!
Fairrosa Cyber Library 