Check out my full review on my blog at https://navigatingneverland.org/2016/...

This is a fun, magical adventure for anyone ten and older! Adults will love it just as much as children, especially because adults will catch a lot more of the humor as well as some references to other things (Wind in the Willows was one I believe) throughout the book. If you love fantasy, Folk Lore, or want something light and fun to read then I suggest checking out this book! It is a stand-alone, but there is another book in the same world if you really enjoy this one. I also recommend reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in A Ship of Her Own Making because that book has a similar feel to this one and is actually even better.

This book was a lot of fun.

Book #8: Changeling, by Delia Sherman.

This is a story about a human girl raised in "New York Between" by the magical creatures that live there. She is a changeling, replaced with a fairy creature in the "world outside." She is, as most humans are, a curious and bit foolhardy girl and one innocent mistake throws her whole future into disarray. Only a daunting quest in three parts can restore the only life she knows as home.

This was a fast, fun, easy read. Full of puns and twisted meanings and the misconceptions of the human world as seen through the eyes of a pseudo-faerie, I really enjoyed this light read with elements of urban fantasy, myth, and New York travel guide with a tinge of cyberpunk thrown in for good measure.

One interesting note about the author, she is one of the founders and president of www.artistswithoutborders.org . I fully intend to check out more of her work.

Everything in the plot fits neatly into place, but it's a little boring. The concept is excellent but it lacks any suspense at all, everything works out too smoothly. Parts of the story are quite amusing.

Changeling is both a well-researched look at the folk beliefs of the world as well as a love letter to New York City. And while both elements come together nicely to create an exciting story, readers unfamiliar with New York's neighborhoods and museums may not fully understand or appreciate the nuanced levels of Sherman's New York Between, the land where the folk dwell. The main character Neef is a human living among the folk in Central Park. When she breaks a taboo, the Park's ruler, the Green Lady sends her on a quest to steal the magic mirror of the Mermaid Queen, the ruler of New York Harbor. Along the way, Neef encounters elements of folklore, pop culture, and local New York Pride, all of which dwell together in tense harmony. Neef meets vampires who work on Broadway, the Dragon who rules Wall Street, and her changeling counterpart who is both a help and a hindrance. 'Tween readers will love the story, and New Yorkers will see a new world in their city after reading.

I will say that this book started off a bit slow and confusing for me, but I always find that with a new fantasy book. I just had to get used to the new world. It did help that it kind of took place in New York City, which I am familiar with, so I think that made it easier to grasp the new world. And once I had a handle, boy was the ride fun! Neef and Changeling are such fun characters and meeting all the fairy tale folk throughout the book was fabulous!

Mostly I am excited about this book as a teacher and I really think that students will enjoy and learn from this book.

Changeling gives us a world called The New York In-Between which is a magical world that is parallel to NYC. I love this book specifically as a teacher, though, because of a couple reasons:

1)Delia Sherman uses magical folk from folklore from all over the world in the novel. We meet Boggarts from England, Dryads from Greece, Chin Chia from China, etc. (And it has a glossary of all the fairy tale folk.) How much fun would this be to use with a folk lore lesson?!?!?

2) She also has some literary folk that live in the NY In-between such as The Water Rat from The Wind in the Willows("A writer made him up, but he was so real that he took on a life of his own").

3) Lastly, Astris, the fairy godmother, tells fairy tales to Neef, the main character, but they are all New York-ified. For example, "Little Red Riding Hood" becomes "Little Red Baseball Cap"- How much fun would it be to have students write their own version of the stories using Astris's titles?!?!?!

I truly don't think I could rate this book fairly. Some middle grade fantasy books can be enjoyed by young readers and adult readers. This story is clearly for children. I probably would have enjoyed this book if I was a child. Some of the conflicts in the story didn't make sense to me. I just came to the conclusion that I'm just too old for the story .

A very enjoyable read.

3.5 - a cute, breezy middle grade story that was worth the few hours it took to read it.

Once I finished the story, I discovered there was "Neef's Guide to Supernatural Beings" in the back of the book, like an index... I think I would've had an easier time understanding some of the creatures in the story if I knew this index existed... Otherwise, it was a cute story with a lot of folklore spinoffs...

Best YA novel I've read in a long time.

Good book for the young adult. Silly and simple. The girl who eventually is called Changeling seems autistic to me, and I really related to that.