November 27, 2017
Ten-year-old Fidge, still adjusting to her father’s death two years earlier, is usually patient with her four-year-old sister, Minnie. But after a frustrating shopping trip, Fidge kicks Wed Wabbit, one of Minnie’s beloved stuffed toys, and Minnie gets hit by a car when she runs after it. While their mother stays with Minnie at the hospital, Fidge spends the night with her difficult cousin, Graham, whose parents take helicoptering to new levels. Amid an enormous thunderstorm, the two cousins are somehow transported to the land of the Wimbley Woos, colorful cylindrical creatures from Minnie’s favorite stories. There, they attempt to save them from a dictator—none other than Wed Wabbit himself. Evans (Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms) smartly counterbalances Fidge’s guilt over her role in her sister’s injury with the impossibly cheerful realm of Wimbley land (the Wimbley Woos speak in rhyme, testing both kids’ patience) and the improbable menace of Wed Wabbit who, like Minnie, can’t pronounce his Rs (“Those who bweak my wules will face my wage!!!”). This well-crafted journey of self-realization amuses at every turn. Ages 8–12.
November 15, 2017
Grades 4-7 In a decidedly goofball guilt trip, 10-and-a-half-year-old Fidge finds herself trapped in the color-saturated Land of the Wimbley Woos, her little sister Minnie's favorite picture book, in the wake of a spiteful act that puts Minnie in the hospital. It seems that the land is being tyrannized by Minnie's treasured plushy Wed Wabbit, who is angrily sponging up all the color and so forcing the Wimbley Wooscylindrical creations who speak in verse and whose characters are keyed to their diverse huesto change from fun-loving sillies to pale drudges more interested in, ugh, laundry and bank accounts. Guided by clues in a reasonably lucid prophecy and aided by both a pair of animate toys and her obnoxiously oversheltered cousin, Fidge enlists the Wimbley Woos in a daring scheme involving a tournament of competitive games to stave off such dreary fates. Evans really puts the odd into odyssey here, but even as readers snicker at the sly gags and ludicrous setting, Fidge's remorse is sharp and real enough to supply an effective emotional hook.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
December 1, 2017
Gr 3-6-Fidge (short for Iphigenia), her mother, and little sister Minnie, (short for Minerva) are getting ready for an outdoor vacation when something terrible occurs. Minnie gets hit by a car while chasing after her toy red rabbit, which she pronounces "wed wabbit." Fidge blames herself for the accident. While her mother and sister go to the hospital, Fidge gets sent to stay with her spoiled cousin Graham who is afraid of everything. Soon Fidge and Graham find themselves trapped in The Land of the Wimbley Woos, one of Minnie's favorite books. This is a land where Minnie's toys come to life and they are often giant-sized. Readers will be reminded of Alice in Wonderland as Fidge, like Alice, has to puzzle her way out of precarious predicaments. Memorable characters emerge like Ella the Elephant; the rhyme-obsessed, multicolored Wimbley Woos; and Dr. Carrot. Readers will be taken down the rabbit hole as these characters try to free Wimbley Land from tyranny. VERDICT Whimsical, clever, and laugh-out-loud funny.-Lisa Gieskes, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from December 1, 2017
In 36 hours, Fidge, a 10-year-old white English girl, her widowed mother, and her little sister, 4-year-old Minnie, are going on holiday. There's so much to do: packing and running to the shops for supplies, including flippers for Fidge.Fidge is torn away from her packing to read a good-night story to Minnie. She wants to hear The Land of Wimbely Woos yet again, and no rushing through it will satisfy Minnie or her favorite stuffed toy, Wed Wabbit. The next day, the trio is running around the shops when Minnie sees a new Wimbley Woos book, which they must immediately buy. The delay means Fidge doesn't make it on time to get her flippers, and Minnie's struggling to manage her toy cellphone, the book, Eleanor Elephant, and Wed Wabbit. She drops Wed Wabbit--then a terrible thing happens. In the aftermath, Fidge is sent to stay with her awful cousin Graham, who will remind more than one reader of Dudley Dursley or Eustace Scrubbs. The cousins are arguing during a heavy storm when a clap of thunder sounds and they're transported to another world that looks an awful lot like--it can't be--the Land of Wimbley Woos, which, incredibly, seems also to be populated by Minnie's toys--including Wed Wabbit. Fidge must figure out how to navigate this bizarre world, solve riddles, and work with Graham to get back home while avoiding the wrath of a terrible tyrant. Evans achieves vivid, original worldbuilding while maintaining trim prose that's by turns heart-rending and hilarious, exciting, and well worth a place alongside beloved adventure classics.Delightful. (Adventure. 8-12)
COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2018
Ten-year-old Fidge, feeling responsible for her little sister Minnie's serious injury, is sucked into Wimbley Land, the embodiment of Minnie's imaginative life (based on her favorite book and peopled with stuffed toys). Sensible, energetic, resilient Fidge must locate Wed Wabbit, Wimbley Land's new dictator (really Minnie's toy rabbit), and return him to Minnie. This laugh-out-loud, inventive tale wears its messages lightly and keeps its satire and slapstick bouncy.
(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from March 1, 2018
This inventive and surprising fantasy adventure begins when Fidge's little sister Minnie runs into traffic and is seriously injured. Ten-year-old Fidge, who feels responsible for the accident, is then sucked into another world, Wimbley Land, a place that she (and readers) gradually realize is the embodiment of Minnie's imaginative life, peopled with stuffed toys and vivid with unfiltered emotion. This world is based on Minnie's favorite book, an absolutely dreadful children's picture book written in cloying rhyming couplets ( But if you're feeling tired or sad / A lovely hug will make you glad ). Fidge is a sensible, energetic, and resilient hero, embodying British pluck and the value of just getting on with it. She embraces the task of locating Wed Wabbit, Wimbley Land's new dictator (in real life, Minnie's beloved toy rabbit), and returning him, and herself, to Minnie. Hazards and roadblocks multiply, including a dungeon, a dangerous moat, and some malevolent blue paramilitary garbage cans. Fidge has allies?helpful Wimblies; her (hilariously) dreary, phobic cousin Graham; a plastic carrot psychotherapist; and a purple stuffed-elephant life coach?but really it's up to her. There's a backstory involving the death of the girls' father several years before, plus a small lesson about diversity, but this laugh-out-loud, roustabout tale wears its messages lightly and keeps its satire and slapstick bouncy. sarah ellis
(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
March 1, 2018
This inventive and surprising fantasy adventure begins when Fidge's little sister Minnie runs into traffic and is seriously injured. Ten-year-old Fidge, who feels responsible for the accident, is then sucked into another world, Wimbley Land, a place that she (and readers) gradually realize is the embodiment of Minnie's imaginative life, peopled with stuffed toys and vivid with unfiltered emotion. This world is based on Minnie's favorite book, an absolutely dreadful children's picture book written in cloying rhyming couplets ( But if you're feeling tired or sad / A lovely hug will make you glad ). Fidge is a sensible, energetic, and resilient hero, embodying British pluck and the value of just getting on with it. She embraces the task of locating Wed Wabbit, Wimbley Land's new dictator (in real life, Minnie's beloved toy rabbit), and returning him, and herself, to Minnie. Hazards and roadblocks multiply, including a dungeon, a dangerous moat, and some malevolent blue paramilitary garbage cans. Fidge has allies?helpful Wimblies; her (hilariously) dreary, phobic cousin Graham; a plastic carrot psychotherapist; and a purple stuffed-elephant life coach?but really it's up to her. There's a backstory involving the death of the girls' father several years before, plus a small lesson about diversity, but this laugh-out-loud, roustabout tale wears its messages lightly and keeps its satire and slapstick bouncy. sarah ellis
(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)