The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray

by B. A. Williamson

Overview

Gwendolyn Gray faces an overwhelming battle every day: keeping her imagination under control. It’s a struggle for a dreamer like Gwendolyn, in a city of identical gray skyscrapers, clouds that never clear, and grown-ups who never understand.

But when her daydreams come alive and run amok in The City, the struggle to control them becomes as real as the furry creatures infesting her bedroom. Worse yet, she’s drawn the attention of the Faceless Gentlemen, who want to preserve order in The City by erasing Gwendolyn and her troublesome creations.

With the help of two explorers from another world, Gwendolyn escapes and finds herself in a land of clockwork inventions and colorful creations. Now Gwendolyn must harness her powers and, with a gang of airship pirates, stop the Faceless Gentlemen from destroying the new world she loves and the home that never wanted her—before every world becomes gray and dull.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631631726
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Series:	The Chronicles of Gwendolyn Gray , #1
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 13 Years

About the Author

B. A. Williamson is the overly caffeinated writer of The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray. When not doing battle with the demons in the typewriter, he can be found wandering Indianapolis with his family, singing in a tuxedo, or taming middle-schoolers. He is a recipient of the Eli Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship. Please direct all complaints and your darkest secrets to @BAWrites on social media, or visit gwendolyngray.com.

Editorial Reviews

"A fantastic, whimsical, and thoroughly satisfying book. Crossing multiple worlds and filled with pirates, steampunk-style gadgetry, magic, and a wonderfully creepy nemesis, the story is highly original and entertaining."—Foreword Magazine, starred review

“Williamson successfully grounds the work both in fantastical and dystopian settings, making otherworldly markets and steampunk pirates in airships fit perfectly alongside more common themes such as building lasting friendships and the first hint of romance.” —School Library Journal

"Williamson skillfully blends a dystopian society with a steampunk adventure and a coming-of-age journey. Fans of classic adventures like Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz will adore Gwendolyn."—Booklist

"Gwendolyn’s character development makes for a satisfying arc alongside the breathless adventure ."  —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 

From the Publisher

02/01/2018
Gr 5–7—Twelve-year-old Gwendolyn is a dreamer with the misfortune of living in the City—a gray metropolis of metal, stone, and conformity. Gwendolyn's fiery red hair and wild imagination set her apart from the other inhabitants, but when her fantasies begin to physically change the world around her, Gwendolyn finds herself being followed by two faceless gentlemen intent on erasing not only her changes, but Gwendolyn herself. She flees, but with a little help from friends found along the way, she resolves to save herself, the City, and every other world as well. Gwendolyn is a well developed character: she longs for a colorful, carefree life and she works to recognize her flaws, define her own feelings, be true to herself, and make the best decisions. Williamson successfully grounds the work both in fantastical and dystopian settings, making otherworldly markets and steampunk pirates in airships fit perfectly alongside more common themes such as building lasting friendships and the first hint of romance. Complementing the plot and main character is a narrator who subverts conventional clichés through engaging asides to encourage the imagination of even reluctant readers. VERDICT A fresh consideration of the power of imagination; hand this to kids with vivid minds of their own.—Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC

School Library Journal

2018-02-13
"Unlike the rest of the City, Gwendolyn's problem was turning her imagination off."Nearly-13-year-old Gwendolyn lives in a city where everything—buildings, clothing, sky—is gray and dismal. She escapes bullying from cruel classmates—and life's tedium—by using her fertile imagination, fed by neglected books at the Hall of Records. One day, she discovers to her horror that she has begun causing things to happen just by thinking them. A classroom reverie leads Gwendolyn to inadvertently create floppy rabbit ears on Missy, a classmate. When two sinister men in bowlers show up, the stakes grow higher; Gwendolyn's goals change from saving Missy to saving a city to, eventually, saving several worlds from dark energy related to the Faceless Gentlemen. The adventure is a full one, perhaps too full, including both dystopian and steampunk worldbuilding elements; astonishing beasts; beginning flirtations; hair-raising scrapes; and, finally, a return to Gwendolyn's City of No Stories. Has she made a difference? The denouement will feel gut-wrenching for readers who have come to love Gwendolyn's companions, siblings Starling and Sparrow, unless they read carefully to the end, which hints at additional special powers and adventures in the future. Kolonius Thrash, a dark-skinned, teenage, swashbuckling hero with dreadlocks, adds some diversity to the mostly white cast. Frequent direct addresses from the narrator and running jokes add quaintness; the plentiful use of antiquated mental-illness tropes contributes a caustic quality.Mostly fun; sometimes overwhelming. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews