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The Seven Tales of Trinket Paperback – February 11, 2014
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Guided by a tattered map, accompanied by Thomas the Pig Boy, and inspired by the storyteller's blood that thrums through her veins, eleven-year-old Trinket searches for the seven stories she needs to become a bard like her father, who disappeared years before. She befriends a fortune-telling gypsy girl; returns a child stolen by the selkies to his true mother; confronts a banshee and receives a message from a ghost; helps a village girl outwit―and out-dance―the Faerie Queen; travels beyond the grave to battle a dastardly undead Highwayman; and meets a hound so loyal he fights a wolf to the death to protect the baby prince left in his charge. All fine material for six tales, but it is the seventh tale, in which Trinket learns her father's true fate, that changes her life forever.
The Seven Tales of Trinket is a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012
- Reading age8 - 12 years
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade levelPreschool - 2
- Lexile measure730L
- Dimensions5 x 0.86 x 8 inches
- PublisherSquare Fish
- Publication dateFebruary 11, 2014
- ISBN-101250039940
- ISBN-13978-1250039941
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“All storytellers have special powers, as Trinket learns on this incantational Irish odyssey to find her fate and her father.” ―Richard Peck, Newbery Medal winner
“Trinket is a riveting middle-grade debut--a seamless blend of story and song that tells a thrilling tale of a bard-in-training's quest to find her father. Utterly enchanting!” ―Diane Zahler, author of The Thirteenth Princess
“* Thomas offers an impressive debut novel in which she weaves seven compelling stories together with narrative power and considerable grace.” ―Booklist, starred review
“* Thomas spins tales worthy of her heroine's aspirations in this nimbly structured collection of seven magical adventures that build into a highly rewarding story.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review
“* What stands out most is Trinket's clear voice and loving heart, both of which will endear her to readers.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Square Fish; Reprint edition (February 11, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250039940
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250039941
- Reading age : 8 - 12 years
- Lexile measure : 730L
- Grade level : Preschool - 2
- Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.86 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,228,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,272 in Children's Parents Books
- #18,892 in Children's Folk Tales & Myths (Books)
- #27,773 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Books
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This book is deliberately episodic and self-reflective, which is a little tricky to pull off. Fortunately, Thomas pulls it off. We follow a girl named Trinket and her friend Thomas the Pig Boy as they travel to find out what happened to Trinket's father, a handsome bard who has been missing for years. Along the way, Trinket also collects stories, turning each one into a song. The stories are Trinket's and Thomas's adventures, but they later become tales that Trinket tells in other villages.
To give you an idea about their adventures, I'll just list the chapter titles, which are numbered tales: "The Gypsy and the Seer," "The Harp of Bone and Hair," "The Wee Banshee of Crossmaglin," "The Faerie Queen and the Gold Coin," "A Pig Boy, a Ghost, and a Pooka," "The Old Burned Man and the Hound," and "The Storyteller and the Truth." As an author's note explains, Thomas's tales are based primarily on Celtic folklore. But the author adds her own twists in the telling, created dimensional characters as she goes.
The language is clean and clear, with occasional touches of poetry to burnish the narrative. For example, Thomas the Pig Boy is always hungry. He explains, "Never was a lad born with as fierce a beast in his belly as myself." And here's my favorite paragraph: "There were bones on the shore. Bones of large sea beast called whales. Whiter than the clouds, they rose from the rocks like the ghosts of old tree branches. I could hear Thomas gasp at the sight of them." The tales are touched with humor, magic and intrigue. "As if she read my mind, the dark-eyed girl spoke. `You wonder about me, as well you should.' I paused, my bread midway to my bowl of broth. `I am a liar,' she said."
Fragments of some of the stories show up in later stories as certain characters reappear for different reasons. The overall arc is Trinket's search for her father, but as she moves onward, she becomes something in her own right, a singer and storyteller. In fact, a young bard. She also handles herself pretty well and learns along the way, though the book is far from didactic. Thomas the Pig Boy makes a sturdy, if hungry, companion. He and Trinket take turns saving each other when things go wrong. (These are pre-teens, however, and there isn't the slightest hint of romance between them, just loyalty and friendship.)
The author did something a little different with the ending, and I'm not sure quite how well it flows. However, readers will regain their footing by the last page and will be very glad they've read Trinket's seven tales. Shelley Moore Thomas's Good Knight books are charming, and so is The Seven Tales of Trinket--a well-paced, magical middle grade read.
Trinket is a brave and determined girl, setting off with few supplies and her friend Thomas the pig boy, with only an old map of her father's to guide them. Along it you can trace the path that Thomas and Trinket take to find her father's fate, and possibly her own. Trinket has always harbored the secret desire to follow in her father's footsteps, and is practically handed the means to do so throughout her journey. Encouraged to find and perfect tales, Trinket sets her mind to gathering seven so that she could stay in a village for a week, telling a different tale each night and earning her livelihood.
I loved Shelley Moore Thomas' breakdown of Celtic folklore in this book, utilizing gypsies, seers, selkies, banshees, the fey, ghosts, pookas, princes and dogs. Each tale that Trinket gathers and experiences was inspired by traditional lore, and crafted in such a way as to make it unique to Trinket's experience. Trinket doesn't tell the stories, she lives them, and as such becomes a stronger story teller.
Unlike many folkloric tales, there doesn't seem to be much to learn from Trinket's experiences, which is okay. Sometimes a story is just a story, and sometimes the experience really is more valuable than the outcome. The Seven Tales of Trinket was rather predictable for me as an adult, but I do not feel it would be for the proper age range (recommended for children 8-12). In the manner of the story, I felt as if all of the journey and adventure was being recounted to me at a later time by someone who'd experienced it, rather than me feeling as if I were experiencing things at Trinket's side. For me, this resulted in a somewhat disjointed feeling, as I feel like this book was attempting to marry those two experiences and fell short in doing so.
Perfectly enjoyable, and an incredibly quick read (I realize it's nearly 400 pages, but considering the amount of white space and the fact that this is an oddly shaped book-which I love!-it can be read in a couple of hours), but I didn't completely fall for Trinket's tale. I would certainly keep this book in mind to recommend to the right child, and if I don't feel it was amazing, I did feel my time was well spent consuming it.