Bound To Stay Bound

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School Library Journal - 11/01/2011 Gr 5–7—As she did in Briar Rose (Tor, 1992), Yolen retells a classic fairy tale. The protagonist, named Snow in Summer but called Summer by her doting parents, is enjoying an idyllic childhood in post-Depression Appalachia. Papa's singing accompanies all he does, and both his garden and Summer thrive because of his attention. Mama surrounds her daughter with her warmth and love. But when Mama and her new baby are lost in childbirth, Summer and her father find themselves lost. Cousin Nancy attempts to fill the void for Summer, but Papa becomes more distant with each passing day, spending every evening playing music at his wife's gravestone. When he returns from the cemetery one evening with a new woman on his arm, Cousin Nancy warns that he has been besotted by a witch. So begins Summer's journey toward a showdown with Stepmama. Yolen's "Snow White" follows the familiar path of the childhood story but adapts well to its more modern setting and characters. Period details feel authentic to both the time and the story line. The use of Appalachian turns of phrase may leave some readers stumped, but the language adds to the story's firm grounding in its new setting. A well-imagined and well-told addition to collections of retold fairy tales.—Colleen S. Banick, Tomlinson Middle School, Fairfield, CT - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2012 Snow in Summer, nicknamed “Summer,” lives in a mid-twentieth century rural West Virginia mining town with her grief-stricken father, who still mourns the loss of Summer’s mother. When Summer is eleven, Papa suddenly meets and marries a mysterious woman. Though Stepmama seems all right at first, it gradually becomes clear to Summer that her father is growing unnaturally old and befuddled and that Stepmama and her “po-tency drink” may have something to do with it. Then Stepmama takes Summer to a terrifying hillside church (in which members are encouraged to flirt with death in the form of rattlesnakes and strychnine-laced water) and later dumps her off with one of the church’s menacing members. Summer escapes, however, and finds refuge in the home of six kind and diminutive German jewel miners (the seventh is away at college) who come to her rescue when Stepmama tracks her down, and Summer finally gets her “happily ever after” ending. Although Summer narrates most chapters in this updated take on “Snow White,” some are told from the perspectives of a family friend and Stepmama, which is helpful (we learn Stepmama’s true motivations, for example) rather than intrusive. The historical backwoods setting adds substance, and it is surprisingly effective in making the tale’s magic seem almost possible (although the dwarf German miners are a stretch). Yolen’s pace is measured yet relentless and her writing taut with a sense of foreboding; the church and its members are chilling, as is Stepmama herself. Readers who love fairy-tale fiction will find this perfectly satisfying. JH - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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