Fantasy -- 4 1/2 stars
Twelve-year-old David has lost his mother after a long illness, despite his having tried very hard to do everything just right, hoping it would save her. At first, after the funeral, it is just David and his dad. Now there's a stepmother, a new baby brother, and a bedroom high in the attic of a new country home. The bedroom is filled with books, mostly the fairy tales that David loves, but these books are different--they whisper to each other. Feeling alone and resenting his new family, David wonders, if his mother is really gone, why can he hear her calling him? ----- Take a healthy serving of the Grimm Brothers, mix in some Hans Christian Anderson, add a dollop of Aesop, and a splash of Narnia; then spin them all around until everyone is dizzy and not quite themselves, and you have The Book of Lost Things. With the exception of Snow White, which is laugh out loud funny, the stories we know so well are offered here in an off-kilter smorgasbord that emphasizes the darkness of the original tales over Disney's modern day, sunshine and cutesy animals take on the classic tales. A clever, highly imaginative adventure with an imbedded (perhaps a bit too heavy handed) moral, and a closure as comforting as a warm quilt on a cold night.
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