This book is worth a read because it has some interesting ideas. But as the book went on it mostly filled me with existential dread, a feeling of struggling against the inevitable, and eventually of just static existence (and lack of free will). I think I either missed the point, or the ideas just didn't work together to make a statement as well as they could've. I mostly just was waiting to figure out what, exactly, was the great, good thing and for everything to finally be explained. But I was left with more questions than answers. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I was looking for from the book. Still! Nothing compares to the excitement of reading that Sylvie was leaning against paragraph 7 on page 3, and counting the paragraphs to realize that was the exact paragraph you were reading!

this book was incredibly influential in my childhood, i first read it many moons ago after my father gave me a copy as a present. i decided to reread it today and was overcome by emotions i’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that i felt. i actually cried over a fictional geography teacher. okay. i love this book

also, i’ve thought about this book at least once a month for the last 10 years, it holds up

This was my third read through of this book. The first time, I was too young to understand the concepts, the second, I barely remember, but this third time was just right. I really enjoyed it, and I imagine I'll pick up the second one soon.

This is one of those books that I wouldn't have understood as a tween but would irritate me if I picked it up from the adult/general fiction section.

It's a cute fable that has a few patchy moments. Mostly not too deep, I didn't escape as much as I wanted to, though there are a few moments that offer a different perspective on PTSD. I thought that was treated well. It would have made a nice picture book(my cover was gorgeous, btw) or, if explored a bit more, been a fun adventure. It ended somewhere in the middle. The plot was clever enough that I had to finish it, though.

Also, I'm disappointed. After thinking about it for 24 hours, Sylvie really didn't do anything that great.

What a lovely book! It was a fun, easy read. It is marketed for ages 8 - 14, but I completely enjoyed it. After all, a good story is a good story.

Princess Sylvie and a cast of characters live a life inside their book when a Reader isn't reading their story. The rule is to never look directly look at the Reader, but Princess Sylvie just can't resist...and that's when a new adventure begins for Princess Sylvie.

While this is a delightful story, it really does speak to the heart about friendship and family and the love of stories and remembering loved ones. ❤

Language: PG (2 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G
A character in a book that’s been left on the shelf, Sylvie (12yo) gets discouraged from a couple of false starts. Everyone is doing their best, but their story is continuously interrupted. And then Sylvie breaks the rules and leaves her story behind, exploring a new world where she must save their newest reader, Claire.
At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the book within the book, but I ended up enjoying Sylvie’s story more than I expected. Townley illustrates how beautifully stories can brighten, influence, and change the lives of readers—and it’s fun to think about how our favorite characters might love us just as much as we love them.
Sylvie is depicted with light skin on the cover. The mature content rating is for mild sexual harassment and mild scary elements.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/

Shout out to this fabulous book in my latest n  n    YouTube Videon  n all about my favorite bookish books (and while I attempt a little baking in the background). Thanks for watching and happy reading!

The Written Review:

n  Sylvie had an amazing life, but she didn't get to live it very often.n

Sylvie is (quite literally) a character. She's a princess. A daring-and-dashing heroine. And, most importantly, she's BORED.

She only gets to live her story when a Reader stops by and she's had to go through the same. exact. story. for eighty years.

Her father (the King) and her mother (the Queen) are also trapped like this...only, they don't mind it. They love the order and peace that comes from a story well-performed.

Sylvie longs for action and adventure - for stories where the the ending isn't known and where the criminal aren't just members of her court playing a part.

Then one day, Sylvie explores to the edges of her book and with a deep breath, leaps out of the pages and into the world.

This book just blew me away. I love the story, within a story, within a story aspect. I laughed, I teared up, this book was simply fabulous. I need to find a copy!

n  The sun shines. Readers read.n

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Wonderful idea. "The girl with the dark blue eyes" however is about the only thing I'm likely to remember from it. Whether enjoyed with the new cover as a lighter read, or with the original as one with themes more subtle and deep, it only almost succeeds, and I cannot quite recommend it.

(I am going to see if there is more by the author, though, as I see a lot of potential.)

This is one of my all time favorite books, and I'm very excited to see it being released.

Personal copy, purchased 2003

The Princess Sylvie is the main character in a book titled The Great Good Thing. It's been years since the characters have had a Reader, and when the book is finally opened, they all rush to their places and act out the story, which centers around Sylvie not wanting to marry Prince Riggloff but to instead have adventures and do a "great good thing". The biggest rule of being in a book is to never look at the Reader, much less let the Reader see you. When the book is opened and shut quickly, and the story is in disarray and several funny things happen. The Reader, whose name is Claire, laughs, and tries to find the pages that were so amusing, but of course they are not there. Eventually, Sylvie manages to wander out of the book and into Claire's dreams. Claire is dreaming about her grandmother, who is ill, and the two girls learn a little about each other's worlds. Claire's brother, Ricky, is upset, but is also angry at the perceived favoritism of the grandmother, and burns the book in retribution. With the help of a girl with dark blue eyes, who has appeared in many of Claire's dreams, most of the cast escapes, and ends up living in Claire's mind. They are frequently called upon to appear in Claire's dreams, but as she gets older, this happens less frequently, and they eventually decide to move further into her mind to recreate their kingdom. They find other characters from Claire's life, including Norbert Fangl, who was her beloved geometry teacher. Once, when Sylvie is called off to be in one of Claire's dreams, the court jester stages a coup. When the girl with the blue eyes tells Claire that they are all in danger of perishing, the group once again relocates, this time to the mind of Lily, Claire's daughter, who heard the story as a child. Eventually, with Sylvie's help, she writes the story of The Great Good Thing again, with some slight changes, such as incorporating Norbert Fangl, so he won't be forgotten.

Strengths: This is just one of those books that has ended up being enormously influential in my life. The names of the characters struck me the first time I read it: My daughter is Claire, we almost named my other daughter Emmeline (the queen), my father is Walter (King Walther), and there's even a strange Norbert connection. Because of this, my daughters named our dog Sylvie in 2006 because she was "a great good thing". I read this book out loud to Sylvie as she lay dying; I have never cried so much in my entire life. I had forgotten that Claire reads The Great Good Thing to her own grandmother as she is declining. The ideas of memory, dreams, and the stories that survive us are very powerful. There are more exciting scenes than I remember, and there is a nice twist with the girl with the dark blue eyes. Maybe not the best book ever written, but definitely one of my favorites. My daughters will still reference it from time to time; one has her own version of Norbert Fangl; a school custodian who died of cancer whom she tries to think about from time to time in order to keep her memory alive.
Weaknesses: Be prepared with tissues. There are two other books in the series, but they never struck the same chord with me that this one did.
What I really think: I might need to get another copy for each of the girls to have.

The first line of the book: "Sylvie lived an amazing life."

This little book is about the characters who are actually within the book. Its a cute little story of the perspective of the characters having to wait until the book is opened before they act out the story, in exactly the same way each time. Depending on what page the reader is on, that is where the story begins again when the book is opened. Its a cute little story with a happy ending.

What a thoroughly depressing book! I decided to read this book because I needed a nice, fun, light read and The Great Good Thing had been on my shelf for a while and is highly rated on Goodreads. Instead of something fun and light, this book was all about death and what happens when we get older and lose our memories, and what happens to our memories when we die. It was a very meta book masquerading as a children's book. I might have liked it more as a younger reader, but I think I would have been bored. There really isn't a plot and it seems like storylines are haphazardly thrown together. It really didn't work on any level for me.

Twelve-year-old Princess Sylvie's storybook kingdom really is a storybook, where nothing ever changes, even the character's mad scramble to reach their places whenever the book is opened, until Sylvie discovers she can enter new worlds with the Reader, and find new adventures.

I fell in love with this book upon reading the first line: “Sylvie had an amazing life, but she didn't get to live it very often”. I immediately identified with the character, as would many teenagers. However, traveling between the two worlds and adhering viewpoints, time, and change is demanding for the reader. The story may be put down and, ironically, the greatest fear expressed by the characters (vanishing) realized unless there is an absolute buy-in by the reader. I would recommend this book only to the intermediate to advanced reader.

Interest Level:
4th-8th
Age:
10-14yrs
Genre:
Fiction
Subject:
Fantasy

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-The characters in a fairy tale are also the major characters in this novel, and they become involved in the lives of its readers. Within the pages of a storybook, 12-year-old Sylvie, a princess, refuses to consider marriage until she accomplishes one "Great Good Thing," and goes off to aid several animals in distress. Sylvie also violates the cardinal rule of storybooks and looks her Reader right in the eye, establishing a lasting bond with her. She lives the role of an adventurous heroine, rescuing her story when Claire's brother sets the book on fire. She ventures in and out of Claire's dreams. In hazy transitions, the story moves to a subconscious level with all the book characters only alive in the oral retelling, eventually in danger of being forgotten. Numerous supporting characters float in and out of the scenes: Claire's menacing brother; her grandmother (the original Reader who gave her the book); and, eventually her daughter Lily, who saves Sylvie's story from disappearing. However, the movement of characters in one person's dream or waking world to the mind of another is difficult to follow or swallow. This is an extremely clever and multilayered concept, but one has to question the child appeal, even among the most ardent fantasy fans. Most young readers will lose interest in this book long before its admittedly happy conclusion.
Debbie Whitbeck, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, MI

From Booklist
Gr. 4-6. When it comes to fairy tales, it's hard to find much new under the sun. But try this. Princess Sophie lives inside a book called The Great Good Thing with her parents, thieves, a prince, the usual suspects. When the Reader opens the book, the story begins, and Sophie plays her spunky role. Unlike the other characters, however, Sophie has an adventurous spirit that leads her outside the margins of her book. In that other world, she befriends the Reader, a girl named Claire, the granddaughter of the first Reader, who is old and ill. Years later, as Claire is dying, Sophie must find a way to implant herself in Claire's daughter's memory so the characters of the book can survive. Sophie is a dynamic character who stays true to her fairy-tale roots even as she literally pushes the boundaries of her world. Less successful are the human characters; it seems their role is to show the impermanence of the temporal world, not a natural topic for kids. What's most interesting here is the concept. Townley sets a difficult task for himself. He must maintain the integrity of the storybook world--lights must go on when the book covers close, and one-dimensional characters must still show some life--and at the same time, integrate the storybook characters into the "real" world. He mostly succeeds, but even when he doesn't, it's fun to watch him try. Ilene Cooper