The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden: The Night Flyer's Handbook

By Philippa Dowding

This morning, I woke up on the ceiling …

So begins the strange story of Gwendolyn Golden. One perfectly ordinary day for no apparent reason, she wakes up floating around her room like one of her little brother’s Batman balloons.

Puberty is weird enough. Everyone already thinks she’s an oddball with anger issues because her father vanished in a mysterious storm one night when she was six. Then there are the mean, false rumours people are spreading about her at school. On top of all that, now she’s a flying freak.

How can she tell her best friend or her mother? How can she live her life? After Gwendolyn almost meets disaster flying too high and too fast one night, help arrives from the most unexpected place. And stranger still? She’s not alone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: Jan 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781459707368

Philippa Dowding

Philippa Dowding is an award-winning children’s author, a poet, musician and a copywriter. Her many literary nominations include the Silver Birch Express, Red Cedar, and Red Maple awards. She lives in Toronto.

Reviews for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

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

A magical, emotional story for tweens, teens and even mature 10-y-olds. Reading this I felt like I could identify with Gwendolyn. Being a teen is a lot harder than it looks. And I love her ambivalence about her siblings. There's laughs in this book, and some sadness too. I loved this book and especially Gwendolyn. There's a bully too. I know all about that. It's not sugar coated in the book.

[johnoakville · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Feeling like a freakEveryone at one point or another in their life feels like a freak; this book's story shows us we're never quite as alone as we feel. The main character is smart, and her inner voice is hilarious and real.There's some real darkness as well, but since tweens have exposure to plenty of darkness, it's maybe going to make them feel like they're not the only ones who have "stuff" in their lives.

[katsmiao · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poor Gwennie....she is getting hit from all sides.

As if puberty isn't bad enough to make your world fall apart, she also starts flying one night.

I really liked this book. I think it is a good book for young girls, who will identify with Gwendolyn as they themselves struggle to make sense of the world.

I'm not sure I like the ending. I supposed there will be a sequel, but I really want to know what she chose....the book ends in a cliff hanger.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gwendolyn Golden wakes up one morning to find herself floating on the ceiling. She's new to the whole puberty thing but she's pretty sure this isn't normal. Odder still, there are people who seem to know about this new ability of hers even though she hasn't told anyone. When her body starts to rise at school by its own accord and she can't control it, she starts to panic. Suddenly, Gwen is faced with problems no high school kid should have to face: will she ever gain control of her body's urge to fly or will she have to spend the rest of her school career locked in a stall in the teacher's bathroom.This is a rather sweet coming-of-age fantasy tale. Gwendolyn, despite having a temper known and feared throughout the school, is quite likeable as is her friend, Jez. There is very little violence other than a couple of incidences with the school bully and an unfortunate encounter with her crush but even these are rather small and are easily dealt with by teachers in the first case and by Gwen in the second. Adult may find the story a bit slow but I suspect its intended middle grade audience will find it very enjoyable.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very nicely done exploration of the harder parts of being a young teenager with an out-of-control temper and mysterious new body developments (you know, like the ability to fly). Great for tweens and quite empowering.