Type: children's
Status: liked
Author: Elizabeth Kay
Tags: marketing newspapers alternate_worlds central_america costa_rica mythical_creatues printing
Description: Felix is 13, but looks younger as he has a heart condition -- and he's in Costa Rica becauseFelix is 13, but looks younger as he has a heart condition -- and he's in Costa Rica because he wanted to go somewhere exciting "before he died". As he stands on the divide -- between the Atlantic and Pacific -- he passes out -- and at the moment he passes into an alternate world, a world where he is a mythical creature and all the mythical creatures of our world exist -- with funny names. Griffins are called Brazzles there, Unicorns are called Brittlehorns, Elves are called Tangle-people, etc. Felix meets up with a brazzle called Ironclaw and a Tangle-person called Betony -- and together they rescue that world from an unscrupulous merchant foisted untried pharmaceuticals on the public -- and manage to find a cure for Felix's heart problems. Modern lessons in a pre-technological, mythical society. (e.g., that world doesn't know what printing is -- unless someone reads a book Felix brought across with him). Sequels....
The theme of the sickly child who is cured by entering an alternate world is similar Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman....
2007-12-27
