Wonderland
By Barbara O’Connor
Hi! Do you know anyone who travels so much they feel like they don’t have any time to make friends, or even if they do, they’re always losing them? Well that’s exactly how Mavis feels. Her mom is always changing jobs. (Her parents are divorced.) She wishes that she could live with her dad, but he lives with his mom and his mom is really mean. But when she travels, she never has time to make friends. She wants a best friend. Everywhere she goes, though, people say that they’re her best friend but they spread lies behind her back and they never want to play with her. She knew she wouldn’t be staying in Landry, Alabama for long. But she was determined to make a best friend.
Meanwhile in Landry, Alabama, Rose (the daughter of Mrs. Tully, the woman that Mavis’ mom is working for) needs a best friend, too. Her mom always tries to get her together with a girl named Amanda. But she’s always doing things that Rose doesn’t want to do, like sports and fashion. Rose just wants to play, not talk.
Eventually, when Mavis gets there, she tells Rose that she’s going to be her best friend. I know, I know… Mavis is a little bossy. But still, Rose goes up to her room and they start talking. They eventually make up a club. The first mission will be to help Mr. Duffy. Mavis has an idea. She wants to get him a new dog. His old dog, Queenie, died and she wants him to be happy. So her brilliant plan is to get him a new dog. But Rose doesn’t think the plan will work because Mr. Duffy doesn’t want a dog. Mavis thinks he wants one; Rose thinks he doesn’t. The question is, which one is right?
So, they make a plan to head out to the woods to find a dog. Eventually they do find one. His name is Henry. He felt comforted by them until Mavis tried to lunge at him and he ran away. Eventually, they found him again and put him on a leash and brought him to Mr. Duffy. Mr. Duffy told them that dog was from Wonderland and he was going to have to call them to take him back. That being said, Henry went back to Wonderland.
After that, Mavis and Rose made up a crazy plan to go and get Henry from Wonderland. At first Rose was unsure about the plan, but she followed Mavis anyway. Mavis was starting to rub off on Rose; she was becoming more adventurous every day. So finally, after it stopped raining, they went to rescue Henry.
Will they rescue Henry and will Mr. Duffy like him? Or will everything fail and Mr. Duffy just be sad and lonely again at the loss of Queenie? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who love emotional stories. This story pulled me in so much that I didn’t want to know what happened next. At the same time I did, though, because who doesn’t want to know what’s going to happen next in an emotional story? Don’t worry, though – this does not count as yucky, lovey stuff!
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 no real scary parts in this book.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
Zero. None. Nada. (Emotions do not count.)
I give this book 5 wands.
I really loved this book! This book shows three different sides of the story: the dog Henry’s side, Mavis’ side, and Rose’s side. The sides just flip back and forth throughout the book.
Source: Review Copy
