Name: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
ISBN: 9780385753548

Karen Foxlee

Ophelia, a timid eleven-year-old girl grieving her mother, suspends her disbelief in things non-scientific when a boy locked in the museum where her father is working asks her to help him complete an age-old mission.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

Addison Degginger

Why I chose this book: I discovered this book while perusing net galley, and couldn't resist the charm that I found in-between the lines of the synopsis. Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard is a girl that stumbles upon an adventure inside a museum. What is not to love? It also had a cover that resembled a mixture of The Series of Unfortunate Events and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making; both books I love. I simply had to give this book a try. 

Five Things You Need to Know: 

1. Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard is a girl who isn't very brave. One of the many things I enjoyed about this book was the characterization of Ophelia. She is an 11-year-old girl with typical 11-year-old problems (like asthma and an ever growing hole in her jacket pocket). While Ophelia claims she isn't very brave, she does many brave things. This girl comes from very dim circumstances at the beginning of the novel, including a checked-out father and deceased mother, yet she doesn't let her hardships control who she is or what decisions she makes. She is resilient and able to rise above the challenges life throws at her. 

2. Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard lives in a world that is nothing short of magical. I wouldn't be exaggerating when I say the setting in this book is magically charming. If Ophelia and her adventure take the lead roles, then the museum is her stage upon which she tramples about endlessly. Karen Foxlee creates room after room of displays that literally come to life. Alongside this, Foxlee creates a dichotomy between Ophelia and the magic that surrounds her. While she embraces the magic, she is still realistic and quite sassy.

Renee K Hopper

I don't know how else to phrase this, but here we go...this book was okay. It held my interest but was lacking something. Maybe it was that the characters were flat? Or, maybe Ophelia was a way too unlikely heroine?

Cindy Lee

The writing style of this book reminded me a lot of another Random House title I read a while ago, The Book of Lost Things. While in that book, the writing style bore me to death; in this book, it brought out the charm and the magical feeling of the whole story. 

This book is geared towards middle grade kids. I don't really feel that I'm too old for it (I'm 15 for your consideration), but the mystery of the whole thing was too easy to solve. She'd just mention one thing and I'd figure it out. It takes a long time for Ophelia to figure everything out and that frustrated me a lot. The first time I met the Snow Queen, I knew it was her (Ophelia didn't figure it out until the end). Not a lot of mystery for me to solve but I really enjoyed how the story played out. My favourite part was listening to the Marvelous Boy's tales. They were intriguing and pulled me more into the whole story. 

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is a charming book that will definitely pull readers in with its magical tale. I wish the mystery was harder to solve but I'm not the targeted audience so I can't complain :)

P. S. I still think the Marvelous Boy's name is David. In fact, I just call him David sometimes for no reason. Especially at that last scene. Oh, so sad.

Rating: C

Jessica Nottingham

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this book has good bones. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is filled with all the things I love in a good Middle Grade novel. A quirky, young heroine, a tale filled with magic, and a setting that is just too good to pass up. Who wouldn't want to wander a giant museum full of oddities? Still, this book just didn't have that magic I was looking for. I'll do my best to explain.
 
I do have to give credit where credit is due, and admit that Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard is a charming protagonist. I have an affinity for characters like her. Quirky, small, underdog type characters who fight against the odds to accomplish the impossible. What's not to love? I remember being a young reader and wanting, more than anything, to be just like the girls I read about in my fantasy books. Even now, reading this as an adult, I see what I'd love about Ophelia as well.
 
Sadly, I didn't feel like the story written around her was worthy of our little Ophelia. While everything I wanted to see was there, it just felt off. This story has talk of wizards, giant owls, and even ghosts, but none of it had that spark that made me want to read like mad. There were parts that felt like they should have been exciting. Pieces of this story that were written to show Ophelia standing tall against things she should be afraid of. None of it felt real though. It felt a bit flat I think. I missed the magic.
 
I do see a lot of good in this book. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy seems like an excellent read for a parent to share with a younger child. I kept picturing this being read to me as a bed time story, and it seemed to fit the bill. So three stars it is. While it wasn't my favorite read of the year so far, I'm much to smitten with Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard to give her anything less.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

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