Yesterday, I taught my kids how to speed-date books.
I set tubs from my classroom library on each table and gave them 4 minutes to find title to add to their “To read” lists. The best comment I overheard was ” These books are way better than in elementary school!”
One table had tubs of “Dystopian” and “Steampunk” books. For most sixth graders, these are new genres. One book in the “Steampunk” tub was Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell. I picked up at Powells this summer, on a SALE table.
Author’s Summary:Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home. When she discovers a secret workshop in the cellar on her sixteenth birthday—and befriends Jules, a tiny magical metal horse—Nicolette starts to imagine a new life for herself. The timing may be perfect: there’s a technological exposition and a royal ball on the horizon. Gorgeous prose and themes of social justice and family shine in this richly imagined Cinderella retelling about an indomitable inventor who finds her prince . . . but realizes she doesn’t want a fairy tale happy ending after all.
I recently discovered that Betsy Cornwell has written a sequel, Venturess, that came out in August. I have it on hold at the library.
Author’s Summary: Nicolette’s Cinderella story is over, and she’s finally living her own fairy tale happy ending. She’s a successful inventor now, free of her horrible stepfamily, and content in her loving friendship with Caro, a palace servant, and Fin, the prince of Esting.
Then she receives a message from her long-lost housekeeper, now a revolutionary, begging her to bring the prince to Faerie for a diplomatic meeting. Nicolette fears a trap, but decides that the chance to end the bloody war waged by their kingdom is worth the risk.
Together with Fin and Caro, she ventures across the monster-filled ocean to the lush continent she’s always dreamed of visiting. There, mechanical armies and dark magic await as they uncover devastating secrets about the past and fight for a real, lasting happily-ever-after for two troubled countries – and for themselves.
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