Serendipity Market by Penny Blubaugh

 

Serendipity Market by Penny Blubaugh is not a new release.  It came out in early 2009.  However, it will be released in paperback in March 2011, the same time as her second book, Blood and Flowers (which has a beautiful cover, one that should appeal more to the YA market than the one for Serendipity Market).  I debated waiting to post about it until then since I only recently learned about it, but this one intrigues me and has been added to my personal neverending reading list.  I would have snuck it onto the Book Club voting list, too, if I'd seen it before then.  Perhaps for April after the paperback has been released? And we have a little over a week of voting left on the January SurLaLune Book Club Pick. Be sure to vote at the bottom of the blog's main page; for now Sisters Red is ahead.

Back to Serendipity Market, here's the book description from publisher:

When Toby breathes on Mama Inez's bird-shaped invitations, giving them the power to fly, plans for the Serendipity Market begin. Soon, eleven honored guests travel from afar and make their way to the storytellers' tent to share their stories. Each tale proves what Mama Inez knows—that magic is everywhere. Sometimes it shows itself subtly—a ray of sun glinting on a gold coin, or a girl picking a rose without getting pricked by the thorn—and sometimes it makes itself known with trumpets and fireworks. But when real magic is combined with the magic of storytelling, it can change the world.

Review from Booklist

Stories make the world go around in Blubaugh’s debut novel. Sometimes, when the world tilts off its axis, only the magical power of story can put things back to right. That’s where Mama Inez steps in. Using her gift of entering people’s lives in subtle yet mysterious ways, she gathers an eclectic group together for a night of storytelling. Each invited guest provides a talisman and a story, and together they set the world back to its rightful state. Weaving together unique variants of traditional tales, such as The Princess and the Pea, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, and Cinderella, this beautiful novel will be a delight to those who enjoy spin-offs of fairy tales and folktales. Readers will find themselves flipping back and forth to figure out how all the different stories hidden in the fold come together to form the greater whole of this charming book. Grades 6-10. --Melanie Koss

I admit I am most curious as to how Princess and the Pea is used.  I'm also a sucker for anything with Serendipity in the title. I've not discussed it much, but a few years ago I did extensive reading on serendipty and its source story, The Three Princes of Serendip, one of its titles. I even worked on my own retelling quite extensively.  So I love when the word is used with a greater understanding of its nuances...