Margaret and the Moth Tree

February 15, 2012
A tale that starts badly and ends more or less well, with an underpinning of dubious philosophy and a shrill, "now I shall teach you" voice. It begins with the idea that good people should be beautiful, and bad people should be ugly ("scraggly hair and warty noses") so the one can be told from the other. Plain, orphaned Margaret has fetched up at the Hopeton orphanage. While the beautiful Miss Switch is all maternal glow when Margaret arrives at what the moths of the titular tree call the "orfallidge," all the loveliness vanishes as soon as the guests do. The children are tormented and ill-fed, divided into "dregs" and "Pets." This Dahl-esque scenario gives the omniscient narrator a platform from which to lecture readers about bullies, those who care only for appearances and so on. Margaret, however, used to silence, learns to hear the voices of the moths and learns they love to eat Nimblers, which are the gossamer stuff of dreams. Of course, the current Nimblers are bitter, because the orphans' dreams are so sad. Margaret and the moths overcome, but not before there are such horrors as a child's long thick braid being cut off in a fit of Miss Switch's pique. While possibly reaching for a bit of Lemony Snicket's basket of queasy joy, this falls very flat. (Fantasy. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2012

Gr 3-6-A charming story of magical realism. Margaret lives in an orphanage run by cruel, imperious Miss Switch. When the other orphans are barred from speaking to her, she finds escape with a group of moths whose voices only she can hear. Both Miss Switch's excessive abuses against the children (forbidding a boy from sleeping, making a girl stand on a building ledge) and Margaret's use of magic (the moths) to retaliate evoke the events in Roald Dahl's Matilda (Viking, 1988). Well-sketched characters and short chapters that often end on ambiguous notes will engage readers. While period and setting are left vague, the narrator's elegant asides and wry commentary imbue the novel with an old-fashioned air reminiscent of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (HarperCollins). Though the moths are positively filled to the brim with quirky traits (Rimblewisp and Pipperflit play games like Billabump and feast upon dreams that they call Nimblers), their scenes tend to drag, especially compared with the action at the orphanage. The power of physical beauty is a strong motif throughout; for example, the beautiful but evil Miss Switch divides the residents into two groups-the pretty, favored Pets and the unattractive Dregs, who are given the lion's share of the work. However, this theme is instilled with enough nuance to escape cliche. The Trogens breathe new life into the old trope of the plucky orphan in dire straits.-Mahnaz Dar, formerly at Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2012
Margaret finds herself at the Hopeton Orphanage, whose proprietress is a baddie straight out of Dahl. Margaret learns she can communicate with moths and, with their help, incites her orphan compatriots to rise up, leading to a satisfying, humorous climax. Lightness of narrative tone affords the story's thought-provoking, dark, and poignant moments their place without slowing momentum.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2012
After the deaths of her parents and, one by one, her two unsuitable distant-relative guardians, ten-year-old Margaret finds herself in the care of The Concerned Ladies' Club: "Finding a Home for the Pitiful Foundling, for over Thirty-Seven Years." The ladies (who aren't really concerned so much as competitive with the next town over's philanthropic efforts) deposit Margaret at the utopian-seeming Hopeton Orphanage. Initially thrilled to have a home, Margaret quickly learns that the place and its proprietress are not as they appear. "Every story has a villain," warns the direct-address narrator, "and...the villain of this story is Miss Switch." Miss Switch is a baddie straight out of Dahl. She loves power, adores herself, and despises children, all the while hoodwinking adults into thinking she's the picture of altruism. She makes a mistake, though, by forbidding Margaret from speaking. This allows the girl to really listen -- and realize she can communicate with moths living on the orphanage grounds. With the moths' help, Margaret incites her downtrodden orphan compatriots to rise up against Miss Switch, leading to a climax that is both satisfying and humorous. Lightness of narrative tone affords the story's thought-provoking, dark, and poignant moments their place without slowing momentum. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)