Review: Beautiful fantasy story for MG  -- inside and out
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 25, 2013
A few things surprised me about THE WARBLE.  For one, the characters have incredible depth for a MG novel.  Each character has his/her own desires and I was caught off guard a few times by friends becoming enemies and vice versa.  I thought that this would be about a girl bullied and victimized escaping into a dream world, but its not.  Although Kristina is bullied, she's pretty strong-willed and indifferent.  To her, these bullies are more of an inconvenience than anything else.  The adults also aren't placeholders; each one has a role in the book.  Kristina's teacher gives her the warble.  Kristina's mother introduces up and the warble to Davina.  And the adults in Bernovem, well, they have their own special parts.One thing that did strike me as extreme was the abuse people/creatures suffered under Queen  Sentiz's rein.  Although it didn't bother me, I think some parents might have a hard time explaining the use of whips and other devices.  It's no more violent than then Narnia series, but unusual for MG books released recently.The first thing that drew me into loving THE WARBLE was the illustrations within the book.  I gifted a paperback copy to my mother, a middle school teacher, and she absolutely adored them.It also needs to be mentioned that not only is Kristina transported to Bernovem, but so are all the bullies that tried to steal it from her that day.  Hester, Graham, and Davina are rotten children who are constantly bickering amongst themselves.  Its kind of nice to have the not-so-nice kids NOT being the evil one.I also found it refreshing that when Kristina met the good prince, her assumed love interest, she disliked him immensely.  And the dislike towards Clover, the fairy, was mutual.  In fact, during most of the book there was drama between the various characters.  As I said before, I was completely surprised at some of the back-stabbing.  Nothing played out as I expected.I didn't hit my first disappointment until near the end of the book, when some of the characters hadn't evolved quite as much as I'd hope and I didn't understand why Kristina stalled her mission for the well-being of certain people.  And in the end there were some loose ends that I hope the sequel clears up.  Overall, it was a pleasant read.  So much that I gave a copy to my mother to share with her students.  So, five stars.