This is the sort of book I wish I'd grown up on. It's lush, and vivid, and strange -- as if The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland and Narnia were all mixed up together, plus a dose of Mirrormask and Spirited Away.

It's a story about a brave and intelligent little girl named September who journeys to Fairyland in order to escape the drabness of everyday life in 1940s Omaha Nebraska. Once there, however, she discovers that Fairyland has been taken over by a probably-evil Marquess bent on bringing rigid and nonsensical (in other words, Earth-style) rules into Fairyland. Flying creatures have had their wings bound, alchemy has become a forbidden practice for everyone except Spriggans and people born on Tuesday. September's guide, the Green wind, is prevented by these rules from entering Fairyland, so from her arrival she's on her own, navigating the rules and whims of an unfamiliar world.

An exuberant book, bursting with wyverns and witches, punk gnomes, cities spun from yarn and golems made of soap. Plus one kind, capricious, and extremely direct narrator. I recommend this book to any and all age groups, since every one should be able to find something to love inside of it.