The Wonderling
By Mira Bartòk
Hi! Have you ever felt left out because you couldn’t remember something about your past? Well, #13 has. That’s not his real name. He can’t remember a thing about his past because he lives in an orphanage, so they just call him #13.
It all begins with an orphanage, a girl with a wig, and a rat. The girl with the orange wig is the caretaker, Miss Carbunkle. She has kept a lot of orphans from “the outside world,” as all the orphans call it. There is this huge wall around “the home” (also something the orphans say). The rat’s name is Wire. Wire always bullies #13. #13 is not human, and neither is anything else in this book. Miss Carbunkle is a human with feathers on her head. That’s why she has to wear a wig. All the book says about Wire is that he’s a rat, so I’m assuming he’s just a plain old rat. #13 is a mix between a human and a fox. He’s a fox with no tail and he can stand up on two legs and acts like a human.
Now, everything went as usual. Roll call, breakfast, and so on… until #13 and his friend, a flightless bird named Trinket, escaped the home while clever Trinket used a flying device that lifted her and #13 up, up, up and away! They walk for a long time, for Mr. Sneezeweed, Miss Carbunkle’s assistant, is after them. Eventually, Trinket comes up with a name for #13. It is Arthur. Then, they split paths. Arthur is headed to Lumentown and Trinket is headed to an uncle’s house by the sea.
When Arthur gets to Lumentown, he asks a lady if she would kindly give him one of her pies (he’s never tried one before), but she says no. Afterward, he ran into a lady who was kind enough to give him a warm roll for free. Then, she asked him if he would do her a favor and run whenever he sees the “Dog-sea.” The “Dog-sea” is an association that catches young mischief-makers and sends them to horrifying places. That night, Arthur slept with some other beggars like him, and the next morning, he ran into a fellow named Quintus. Quintus took Arthur to his home, Wildred Manor. Arthur now had a home, at least for a little while…
Will Arthur and Trinket ever meet up? Or will Arthur be forced to live with the great pains of Lumentown and the "Dog-sea" forever? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who take it though the scary parts and to readers who can never put a book down. Just trust me, this book is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor): There were just a few scary parts that I didn’t find too bad. Although one towards the end of the book was almost unbearable so, if you can’t read books that have scary parts, don’t read this book.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor): There were no yucky-lovey parts in this book.
I give this book 5 wands.
I couldn’t put it down. I flew through the end. Although I have to admit my favorite part was towards the end during a scary part. I was full of hope and suspense.
