The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Written by Catherynne M. Valente

Narrated by Catherynne M. Valente

"This is a kind of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by way of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland—it's the sort of book one doesn't want to end." —Publisher's Weekly, starred review

September is a girl who longs for adventure. When she is invited to Fairyland by a Green Wind and a Leopard, well, of course she accepts. (Mightn’t you?) But Fairyland is in turmoil, and it will take one twelve-year-old girl, a book-loving dragon, and a strange and almost human boy named Saturday to vanquish an evil Marquess and restore order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781441877642

Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente is the New York Times bestselling author of over two dozen works of fiction and poetry, including Palimpsest, the Orphan's Tales series, Deathless and the crowdfunded phenomenon The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. She is the winner of the Andre Norton, Tiptree, Mythopoeic, Rhysling, Lambda, Locus and Hugo awards. She has been a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with a small but growing menagerie of beasts, some of which are human.

Reviews for The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

[laurochka-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! It reminded me a little of The Phantom Tollbooth and The Book of Lost Things, but was unique in its own way. September's adventures in Fairyland are wonderful and occasionally macabre. A great read!

[Alora Bixman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love the narration style. The story was excellent. A wonderful kid's book that will have children reaching for a dictionary, which is the best kind of kid's book imo. Another great example of a children's novel not being just for children. People of any age love a story that's told well.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Valente is extraordinarily good at tales. She can play with them like a cats-cradle, so that a girl may be Peter Pan and an engineer and a tree all at once, and her adversary may be a princess and a wicked witch and several ages all at the same time. This is mostly the story of September, a little girl who travels to Fairyland and has extraordinary adventures there. Valente's language is beautifully baroque, with lots of word play, yet never loses its clarity. I loved this story, and can't wait to return to it.

[sparkleponies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. I was a nice easy read 

[ladykat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A delightful and whimsical tale!

[novimarra · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"September read often, and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying." Such is this book in a nutshell. The colors are flying and combine to form a vibrant, cuter-than-cute fairytale like nothing you've read before. Don't compare this to Alice in Wonderland because it's not that, although the characters will remind you of Alice, the Cheshire cat, the Queen of Hearts. But this author seems to have a lot more fun with hers, and with the world she's created, weaving good times and bad times together without a single ounce of bitterness or boredom - pretty much like fairyland itself. I loved how there was a reason for everything, each chapter ends with a sweet, smart cliffhanger and it is clear that so, so much tlc was given to the making of this little tale and it shines through in every single word. I don't think I've ever begged before, but please read this book!

[jessica_olin_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I did not want this book to end, I was so enchanted (pun intended) by the language and the characters and the story. Valente seems to weave the words together instead of just writing them. Further, this is the kind of book adults will enjoy as much as (if not more than) young adults or tweens. For instance, there's a part where she's clearly talking about the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics even though she doesn't describe it as such.

Just in case you think I'm being hyperbolic with the language, read some of my other reviews and you'll know that's not what's going on her.

[leirali · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Holy cute. Maybe this book didn't deserve a whole five stars, but it was just so adorable that I can look past the very minor flaws it had. So many of the sentences were so wonderfully written, just so darn adorable, that I reread them several times. I got five stars of enjoyment, that's for sure. This book was just so wonderfully weird that I really just don't know how to describe it. It was a joy to behold, and I honestly don't know how I can go any further with this review without just gushing all over the place. The story has a premise we know very well: a child stumbles into a magical realm and has a marvelous adventure complete with magic and bizarre creatures. Yes, we already have an Oz and a Wonderland and a Narnia and a Neverland. But Valente's Fairyland is kind of pretty amazing, even if I can't put my finger on exactly why. Maybe it's the mixture of everything, like the characters of twelve-year old September and her choice to leave the real world and embark on this journey, the cheeky Green Wind that delivers her there, the Wyvern that is half-library . . . Maybe it's the weird encounters that September has, the encounters that show her truth of reality that she can only discover in bizarro world. I don't know, I don't want to over-analyze it. It's just marvelous the way it is.

[pmlyayakkers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

September's ordinary life in Omaha becomes a magical adventure when the green wind carries her off to fairyland. Joining forces with a dragon and other fairyland beings, she vanquishes the evil Marquess.

[sadiesforsythe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Imaginative and resplendent with Valente's particular flourish for language. I even teared up a little, there at the end. However, I was also a little bored throughout the middle. BUT I have children, 4 & 7, and I cannot wait for them to read it!

[samanthadeirdre · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was magical in the best sense of the world. It is technically a children's book, but it reads so well on so many different levels. There was a sense of menace in the author's fairyland, sort of like you find in Roald Dahl's books or in Lewis Carroll's original Alice in Wonderland. I loved the little girl who is the main character. She's not always the most pleasant of children, but sometimes that serves her well.

[kale.dyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Showed a great deal of promise but I didn't feel like it delivered. Similar in tone to the Flora Segunda books but less adventurous.

[plancultivatecreate · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A delightful and whimsical tale!

[lou_intheberkshires · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is so highly rated, but couldn't get into it. I even bought it for the library in audio also because of the great reviews. Words were too illusive...as soon as I thought I knew what was happening, tons of more stuff was brought in. Putting my opinion aside, perhaps good for girls 5th gr & up.

[sageness · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3 1/2 stars. Some bits were quite good, others needed a good editor. Overall, it's a very satisfying and welcome adventure tale and I'm looking forward to the sequels. I did not see the turn at the end coming at all, which in this case was a wonderful surprise except for the stupid logic fault of it, namely: if Maud was brilliant enough to be queen and live a long and happy life, why didn't she take her brilliance home with her? Why wasn't she canny enough to run away and have her own adventures in Ontario? A grown woman trapped in the body of an eleven-year-old? Well, yes, it would be hell in a lot of ways, but she could have been a prodigy and had an amazing life in the real world. I don't get how that turned into a motive to destroy the connection between the worlds. Mallow was so incredibly imaginative -- so why Maud's failure of imagination once back in her own attic?

I hate being able to poke holes through otherwise fabulous villains.

I do rather like the variety of ways children can arrive in Fairyland, though. That has a lot of excellent potential.

[wanderlustlover_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

September is one of my favorite of this generation of fiction. I use her quotes to bolster myself sometimes. I'm so excited to see this in print, as I was part of a group of people getting to read it week by week before it even came to production.


It never grows old and it stays luxurious.

[smorton11 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 2 1/2 stars

September is an interesting little girl. It’s difficult to get a read on her personality but I believe, as the writing would suggest, that this is intentional. While it is not overtly stated that her father went off to fight in World War II, it is noted that her mother works in a factory a la Rosie the Riveter and September seems to have adapted a cold resilience that one may find necessary while growing up during the unpredictable 1940s.

Her adventure to Fairyland does not come across as an escape route. She goes because she is asked, not because she’s dying for someone to save her, rescue her or offer some alternative to her current circumstances. In this sense, the plot mildly resembles the Chronicles of Narnia in the sense that the children were not looking for a way out, but rather stumbled upon an opportunity they felt was worth taking. The same can be said of September’s motives for heading out the window with the Green Wind.
While traipsing around Fairyland, September encounters all sorts of fascinating creatures, any of whom could be (and I think should be) given more plot time. While the title makes it clear September will be traveling all around Fairyland, it would have been neat to see some of the creatures fleshed out a bit more. Maybe that happens in the later books…

GWCFSHOM, my abbreviation for the very long title, is written in short little chapters that break September’s adventures in Fairyland up into short vignettes. And this irked me. It felt more like a collection of little disjointed stories instead of a cohesive story book. I don’t know if that was Ms. Valente’s intention, but it made the book incredibly easy to put down without really caring what happened next. Eventually I finished it on the beach, mostly because it was the only book I had left and had finished the others I’d brought along with me.

[mimo-774848 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was about a very fine adventure. It should be read, out loud, to people of all ages, especially those who live in such interesting times as ours.

[elspethw-137053 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Just wow. This was beautiful and unexpected and I just want to start all over and read it again. So wonderful. Definitely recommend the audiobook read by the author.

[fred_mouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of fun, plays with a lot of fantasy tropes, manages to do a 'good vs evil' variation of classic storytelling that didn't create a caricature of either hero or villain. I liked it enough that I'm passing it around to people to read, and I picked up the sequel when I was in a book buying mood

[spiritedstardust · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This reminded me so much of The Phantom Tollbooth which is one if my most treasured childhood books - loved it!

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

September is whisked away by the Green Wind to Fairyland, where as a Ravished child she's allowed in to have adventures. She meets a Wyvern and witches, goes to the city of Pandemonium and attempts to overthrow the Marquess, who has taken over the rule of Fairyland after good Queen Mallow and generally made all the inhabitants miserable.

You might think you know what you're in for in such a story, and in some ways you would be right. But even using many fantasy tropes, a knowing narrator, and old-fashioned, circuitous sentences, Valente has surprises and delights (and yes, danger) in store around every corner. This was a fun read.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one has been on my TRL for a loooooong time so I'm really happy that I enjoyed the reading experience. This is the first in a series written for children about a young girl named September who gets whisked away by the wind on the back of a dragon to Fairyland. At the outset, this sounds like it will be the ultimate fantasy story to while away an afternoon but there are multiple layers to this tale and rather mature themes are explored. (As with many fairytales written for children as you well know.) For starters, this book takes place during WWII when most men are away at the Front while the women left behind are doing all the jobs that would ordinarily have been out of their reach. September is a child very familiar with this situation as her mother toils away for most of the day while her father is off fighting. Who wouldn't want to escape that for an adventure in Fairyland?! But like the old saying goes "Be careful what you wish for." because things are not quite so wonderful and carefree in this magical land. Villains, intrigue, depravity, and hopelessness are rife in Fairyland and September soon finds herself looking within for the strength to make her way back home. If you and/or the young readers in your life are looking for a new fantasy series then this is a great once to check out.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

children's fiction/fantasy (main character is 12). Dec. 2011 (print version): liked it, just not enough to keep reading--ended up abandoning in order to move on to the other things on my bookshelf.

2015 update: checked out the playaway version of the book (read by the author), and liked it better when it was being read to me (by the author) vs. having to read the text myself--sort of similar to Alice in Wonderland, a series of nonsensical adventures that the heroine somehow makes her way through.

[lorifox · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Super fun, magical read. Who wouldn't want to get lost in Fairyland and have a red Wyvern as a friend?!

[zoes_human · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A delightfully modern fairy tale in the absurdist tradition of The Wizard of Oz, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Phantom Tollbooth. Quirky and whimsical. A pure delight.There is one thing, however, that plagues me about it. Why is it that there is a little white girl on the cover—presumably the protagonist September—when, on page 145, her skin is described as being "the same warm brown as her father's"? I'll be writing the publisher to inquire.

[elenaj-147457 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Too cute, too self-satisfied, and too much a colder and less satisfying version of The Wizard of Oz (political commentary and all). Maybe it gets better further in - I only got halfway through the third chapter.

If you like lots of quirky scenery, and characters who are more quirky scenery than actual characters, you may like this more than I did.

[bobbybslax · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There's more to the story than it might initially suggest. More darkness and more complexity, too. Also, Valente's prose is charming and fancy. I very much look forward to the next installment.

[pdcread · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

September is twelve. Lives in Omaha. And is bored. One day the Green Wind arrives at her window with a leopard that can fly, and invites her to fairyland. This is ruled in an iron grip by the Marquess, and fear haunts the land. September offer to get and return a spoon to the Marquess.

In her adventures in this land she meets some amazing creatures, a Wyverary half Wyvern and half library called Ell, a soap golem and a lantern that comes to her aid.

It is kind of a mash up of a variety of fairy tales, from Alice, to the Wizard of Oz, a dash of Narnia with darker undertones. In this fantastic tale, Valente also devises a way that children can travel between the real word and fairy land. Not bad overall, 2.5 stars.

[linyarai · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I expected more of a run-in with traditional characters, but this was still fun to read. Enough of a thrill at the end to make you want another book