Valiant

April 27, 2015
Debut novelist McGuire gives her ambitious retelling of the Grimms' tale of the Brave Little Tailor a solid dose of girl power. After her mother's death, 17-year-old Saville accompanies her gruff father to the village of Reggen, where he will start up his tailoring business anew. When he is felled by an apoplexy, Saville dresses as a boy, calls herself Avi, and takes on the guise of her father's apprentice. The ruse plays on even after Avi outwits two giants who were scouting Reggen for their mysterious leader, a duke who claims to be an heir of the ancient emperor and "holder of the eternal heart." But when the village learns the true identity of its supposed giant-slaying champion, and an army of raging giants approaches, Saville finds unlikely allies (and romance) as she takes on her next challenge. McGuire crafts a richly detailed cast, and her heroine brings verve to a familiar story. Explanations of the giants' mythology and the mystical eternal heart slow the action a bit, but readers will be rewarded by a satisfying conclusion. Ages 10âup. Agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary.

March 15, 2015
In this retelling of "The Brave Little Tailor," a young woman comes to the rescue of a city that's besieged by giants. Saville, a tailor's daughter, picks up the ruined pieces of her family's livelihood after her father suffers an apoplexy that leaves him unable to speak, let alone sew. She masquerades as a boy to secure a commission from the king. Nearby villages have suffered attacks by giants led by a duke who describes himself as "Heir to the Ancient Emperor's crown, Holder of the Eternal Heart." When two giants appear at the city's gates, Saville sees Will, a waif she's taken under her wing, dangling from their hands. Like the tailor in the Grimms' folk tale, Saville outwits the giants and is declared champion by the king-who promises his sister's hand in marriage to the champion before finding out who she is. Saville uses her ingenuity to get both self and city out of trouble, with the help of a handsome young nobleman and Will. McGuire uses familiar European folk-tale motifs as the bare-bones backdrop for a lively adventure story with some surprising twists. Characters are fully developed through Saville's engaging first-person voice, but it's clever Saville herself who wins the day-and the heart of the nobleman. A charming, satisfying first novel. (Fantasy. 10-14)

May 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-When her distant, brutal father is struck ill, Saville decides to disguise herself as a boy in order to obtain and fulfill his tailoring commissions for the king. She needs to buy medicine for her dying father, and feed herself and the starving boy she has taken in, Will. But the kingdom of Reggen, under the weak and cowardly King Eldin, is besieged by giants ruled by an evil, monstrous duke. Trapped in her male disguise, Saville becomes an unwitting (and unwilling) giant-killer, tricking two giant emissaries into returning Will, whom they have captured, unharmed and leaving Reggen. Using a trick of squeezing whey from a stone (in actuality a piece of cheese) and throwing a rock (actually a bird) so high that it never lands, Saville convinces the two young giants of her incredible strength and sends them back to die at the hands of their duke. Now, still devastated by their deaths, she must take on the entire army of giants alone while being expected to marry the princess as a reward. Meanwhile, she is falling in love with the king's cousin and adviser, Lord Verras, who has guessed that she is not who she pretends to be. McGuire's reluctant heroine is irritatingly given to introspection at the height of danger, and readers will sometimes wonder how she ever manages to escape death. In the end, however, Saville's intelligence, intuition, and compassion prove more powerful than weaponry and force, and in the spirit of "The Brave Little Tailor" by the Brothers Grimm (note the reference to Savile Row, London's famous street of bespoke tailoring), she vanquishes evil and ultimately achieves a "happily ever after." The romance is nuanced with a delicate hand. VERDICT A good choice for those who have finished all of Gail Carson Levine's fairy tale retellings.-Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City

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