eBook Review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else.

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

 ***

There were Jack and Hazel, two kids who were best friends. Jack and Hazel had been becoming friends since Jack moved to Hazel's next door. It seemed that they could not be separated at all. Until one day, Jack changed. He seemed not recognizing who Hazel was even though they were best friends. Jack was not Jack anymore. His heart was frozen. And Hazel found herself guilty about Jack's changed personality. Hazel thought that Jack was angry with her.

One day, Jack disappeared in sudden. No one knew where he was. Jack's parents told Hazel that Jack was away. He was visiting his elderly aunt Bernice. Hazel did not believe that anyway because what she believed was that Jack was mad with her. Fortunately, there was someone who knew where Jack was going actually. He was Tyler, Hazel's classmate who seemed not like Hazel. Tyler told that something weird happened to Jack that day. Someone took him away by the woods.

Hazel thought she must save Jack and brought back the real Jack home. Even, she expected to ask for apologize, so that Jack could be her best friend just like before. But, the wood was not an actual wood Hazel had known before. The wood made funny things to people. The wood was bewitched. And someone who took Jack, was not human. She was a powerful witch she should not fight against.

~o~

Breadcrumbs is a nice children book written by Anne Ursu. This book combines various fairy tales in one story, especially rooted from Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. Specifically, it involves Hansel and Gretel's story, some Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, and even story about The Fate Sisters like what is told in Warped by Maurissa Guibord. Besides, this book also contains plenty wonderful illustrations made by Erin McGuire which make this book very nice to read especially for children and teenagers.

The main characters involved in this book are Hazel, Jack, and the White Witch. Jack and Hazel are best friend. Hazel is described as a young girl who is 11 years old. She is curious about many things. She has specific interest in fairy tales which makes she roles so childishly. Jack is not so different from his best friend Hazel. He likes drawing very much. He likes fairy tales as well. On the other hand, there is the White Witch, someone who is suspicious and mysterious. According to some people Hazel meet in the wood, the White Witch is someone who is unbeatable. She is very powerful and cruel sometimes. It is because she is not human, she does not have heart, she does not have warmth.

The setting of this novel is mostly about the wood. This is an enchanted wood which is full of trap and full of dangers. There are wolves, wizards, and bad guys living there. Hazel find herself so difficult to find where Jack is because many things in the wood seems tricky and dangerous for little girl like her. Moreover, it is winter already. 

The conflict revealed in this story is mostly about friendship. Hazel really like Jack as her best friend. Even, she is very obsessed with her friendship with Jack. She simply does not want someone be friend with Jack. She also does not want to be friend with somebody else. Her feeling about Jack makes her down in a deep guilt whenever Jack changes his personality in sudden. She thinks that she is the one who is responsible to save Jack and bring him back home with her. So, she goes to the wood and tries to go after him and find him alive, even though it may endanger her own self.

The plot is very easy to follow, since this book is written for children and teenager from 8-12. I really enjoy how the story goes. Like a typical fairy tale, the plot sometimes contains unbelievable story and beyond imagination-story. But, that is okay. However, even though the plot is okay to follow, I still wonder why a good storyline like this gets very flat plot. There is no good climax at all. I'm a bit disappointed because I expect more than that.

The ending of this story is very disappointing. I cannot guess why the writer choose that kind of ending. Well, I can say that it is an happy ending, which may makes the children who read this book happy and proud of Hazel. However, the execution and how the writer leads the reader to the end of the story is not what I expected. I expect that Hazel will do something heroic or something unbelievable to save her best friend Jack, but I'm sorry I cannot find that. I cannot find something climax in this story regarding the rich adventures Hazel has been through before inside the wood.

Over all, I do not really like this book. The story is fair but no so much interesting for me. The ending is disappointing because I expect more than just a flat ending. The adventure shown in this book is not really interesting because Hazel does not face anything really harmful in the wood. The evil or antagonist characters Hazel meet in the woods are not as evil as described. Even, the evil and antagonist characters let Hazel to break free effortlessly. So, much disappointing for me. But, perhaps it very fits to children for this book is written. This book also fits to those who like reading books about friendship.

The quotations I like the most:

"Apparently, when a hand came down and plucked your best friend from the chair next to you, all you had to do was wait for it to drop someone else in there, and then you could just go on." (Chapter 8)

"So, if someone's changed overnight-by witch curse or poison apple or were-turtle-you have to show them what's good. You show them love. That works a surprising amount of the time. And if that doesn't save them, they're not worth saving." (Uncle Martin, chapter 8)

"This is what happens on journeys-the things you find are not necessarily the things you had gone looking for." (Chapter 19)

The Book's Information

Tittle: Breadcrumbs

Author: Anne Ursu

Illustrator: Erin McGuire

Publisher: Walden Pond Press

Edition: I/eBook English version

Published: September 2011

Pages: 336 pages (25 Chapters)

ISBN: 978-0-06-204924-7

Genre: Children Fantasy, Teenager Fantasy, Fairy Tale

My rating: 2 out of 5 crowns

~Happy Reading~
xoxoxo