Adventures of a Dwergish Girl

Tags

Coming of Age, Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade

“Molly O’Malley is a clever, adventurous girl. She is also a Dwerg. Dwergs are strange folks who live very quietly in the Catskill mountains, have lots of gold, and are kind of like dwarves (but also not!).

Molly isn’t interested in cooking and weaving, as Dwergish girls are expected to be. So she sets off to see the world for herself. Which means a new job, a trip to New York City, prowling gangsters, an adorable king, a city witch, and many historical ghosts. More importantly, it means excellent pizza, new friends, and very quick thinking.

Someone is looking for the Dwergs and their gold. Can Molly O’Malley save the day?”

I got an ARC of this book from the author.

I had never heard of a Dwerg before this book. I ended up googling and it really does come up as something. I thought Pinkwater was just making up a cool sounding word, which would have been ok with me, but it actually existing made it extra cool.

The book itself was a quick read as it was aimed at middle grade readers. I enjoyed it even though it was not my reading level. It was fun to be able to sit and read through the story. There were some twists and turns. There were some really cute jokes, like the bee dance. There was also a lot of pizza talk. This might be the book to use if you are trying to get your kid to try new pizza toppings!

There was a lot of world building in the first few chapters (like the ton of pizza talk), so it feels like it takes forever for it to start. Most of my issues with the book are in those first few chapters and a word choice here or there. The world building is cool and I was promised my word choice issues were fixed before thing were printed (so I am using some trust here and judging the book based on the plot and characters). So my biggest complaint is there is so much world building that I was worried the plot would never start. If I could erase the first five or six chapters, then I would like this book a bit more. Some of the world building was nice, but not really needed up front or at all.

The plot itself was slow and meandering, but in a way that made it feel fleshed out and one that allowed for cute jokes to happen. The ending was one that mostly made sense. I feel like it was left open a bit for a sequel, but the only questions I have are about what that sequel would be which is a wonderful change from a huge plot point not being explained just to set up a sequel. I liked the ending. It was quick, no huge surprises that annoyed me, and it fit perfectly with the pace of the story and the world that was built. So at least one of the chapters I wanted to erase before really is necessary.

Overall, it was a cute story and my first Pinkwater book.

3.5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.

You can buy the book here.

~Isaiah

Advertisement