Poor Astri. She's a feisty Norwegian girl who can't catch a break. Her father has gone to America. Her mother has gone to heaven. She and her little sister have been sent to live with uncaring relatives who sell Astri to the horrible Goatman. Is it any wonder Astri tries to imagine that she's a heroine in a fairy tale?

Astri is nothing like typical fairy tale princess, though. She lies, she cheats, she steals. We're used to seeing essential goodness in characters like her, so it's interesting that she's no angel. You will not believe how she escapes from the Goatman! It's crazy.

This story has an old fashioned feel to it and (like a lot of old fairy tales) it has both a hopeful side and a dark side. Astri's reality is a combination of painful, gritty realism and fantastical legend.

I thought the writing was splendid and the whole package seemed original and fresh to me (it's rare for me to read a children's book nowadays and not be immediately reminded of some other children's book, but this one has a flavor that stands out--if I had to compare it to something I'd probably say [b:Far Far Away|16030663|Far Far Away|Tom McNeal|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366106300s/16030663.jpg|21800322] or maybe [b:Pipi Longstocking|19302|Pippi Longstocking|Astrid Lindgren|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388180714s/19302.jpg|2056462] meets [b:Out of the Dust|25346|Out of the Dust|Karen Hesse|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328867076s/25346.jpg|808243]).

My only criticism is that I was confused by the dream sequence at the end of the book. Maybe if I just read it over again it would be clearer to me, but I felt thrown off by it, like the rules of the story suddenly shifted and I was thrown off balance as a reader.

This will certainly be a challenging read for ages 9-11 because of the style and tone of the story. There are definitely parts that feel a little PG-13, e.g. when the Goatman says he's going to marry Astri and take her to his bed and then she cuts his fingers off and later watches him die from the wound. Still, this feels like it has a good shot come awards season. It feels Distinguished. ( )

A wonderful blend of fairy tale and history. Astri tells herself stories and tells us stories too, becoming a dauntless heroine who does terrible things to survive and yet gains our admiration for her spirit and her quick thinking, as any heroine might do. I love how the story ties into Margi Preus' family's history and I love the historical background that she gives us at the end. It's a book perfectly balanced between reality and fable, a triumph of writing, and weirdly amoral but extremely compassionate look at what it is to be human. I find children in general to be both amoral and compassionate, so it works for me. ( )

I like the idea of a historical fiction story combined with folktales, but this book didnt pull that off. There were weird inconsistencies and logistical problems with the story and the writing wasn't very good. I didnt really like the main character and didnt understand her motivations and actions much of the time. Disappointed because this could have been a better book with a bit more work, and because I feel like this was a failure in editing not in creativity. ( )

Children's historical fiction (19th century Norway) with fairytale/adventure elements. Lyrical and imaginative, a plucky heroine looks for her own happy ending and along the way must make choices (some decisions are more ethical than others) while looking after her younger sister. Note to parents: describes a "Black Book" with devilish characteristics, later dismissed by the parson's wife as mostly rubbish, with a few sensible things in it; the main character engages in trickery, dishonesty, violence (in self defense), thievery, and abandonment (later regretted) in order to make her escape. That said, it is a very rich story with a lot of intrigue so if you are not too concerned with morality (or have a strong enough compass to be able to withstand subjection to such examples) I would heartily recommend this adventure story. ( )

In Norway in the middle of the 1800s, Astri and her little sister Greta live with their aunt and uncle because their father has emigrated to America. Aunt is a greedy woman who ends up selling Astri as a milkmaid to the evil goatman. In his storage shed, she discovers a girl her age who doesn’t speak, but who spins beautiful yarn.

Astri, who is all spit and vinegar, is bent on escape. Her plan is to free Spinning Girl, then go back and fetch Greta from Aunt and Uncle, then get them both on a ship bound for America. But their lack of money and the goatman being right on their heels aren’t the only things working against them.

The folktales of Norway are woven throughout Astri’s story – she constantly compares her situation to that of a tale she’s heard, and there are cool moments in the book when you’re not quite sure what’s real and what’s imagined. If you get excited about the wonder and magic of stories – or if you like reading about a girl who sticks up for herself – try this latest book by Margi Preus.

Grownup portion of review:

Watch out for a fleeting scene in which the goatman misinterprets Astri's proximity as a sexual advance and makes an attempt to roll with that. ( )