THE CHANGELING

In Sommer’s middle-grade novel, a thoughtful cat helps out when a kingdom is afflicted by fairy mischief and enchantments.

What should a queen do when she gives birth to an eighth daughter, but her royal husband wants a male heir? In this clever and humorous fairy-tale pastiche, Queen Eglantine bargains with Oona, Queen of the Fairies, to secretly exchange her baby princess with a peasant couple’s baby boy. The tiny princess becomes an enchanted flower in Oona’s garden; the stolen baby, Malachy, is diverted into the clutches of wicked fairy Carabosse, who holds a long-standing grudge against the king. Carabosse, unaware that Malachy is not the real royal heir, magically entraps the infant at the bottom of a lake. The author enjoyably incorporates numerous fairy-tale elements in her narrative, including a grumpy but helpful leprechaun, a handsome prince, a book of spells, and tales-within-tales. Throughout, a cat named Smokey draws readers in as the story’s first-person narrator, wry observer, active participant, and believable feline (the author clearly knows cats). Smokey’s descriptions of the fairy-tale world around him are satisfyingly picturesque and occasionally poetic (he looks up to see “the last eye wink of the waning moon greet the rising sun”). The comedy arises organically from the story: Peasant mother Maeve (one of several strong female characters in addition to the eldest princess, Rose) doesn’t realize that her baby has been replaced with a changeling—an unsavory prankster fairy known as a “wagwit” who comically enjoys Maeve’s pampering while taunting Smokey behind her back. Carabosse makes the king’s servants invisible but for their white gloves and turns members of the court into cats. Things look dire for the future of the kingdom, but readers can be assured of an inclusive happily-ever-after.

An entertaining patchwork of classic fairy-tale lore conveyed by an engaging feline narrator.