The Glass Town Game

The Glass Town Game
by Catherynne Valente
Margaret K McElderry Books, 2017. Fiction
What if children's pretend games came alive? In this thickly layered and deeply imaginative story the remaining children in the Bronte family, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell, have developed a very complicated and ongoing pretend game in their Yorkshire home. When it is time for the older girls to go to a dismal boarding school, the children find that they have the opportunity to take a magic train to visit the world they have created. They seize at the chance, but soon find that their pretend wars and battles are much more frightening when they are real. As they face thrills and challenges, and meet versions of famous characters from British history, they come to find that they really do have the courage they always hoped they processed. This is a great choice for advanced readers who enjoyed The Phantom Tollbooth or Alice in Wonderland.

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