Bad Luck Girl: The American Fairy Trilogy Book 3

by Sarah Zettel

Overview

Fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners will love the blend of fantasy and jazz-hot Chicago in this stylish series.

After rescuing her parents from the Seelie king at Hearst Castle, Callie is caught up in the war between the fairies of the Midnight Throne and the Sunlit Kingdoms. By accident, she discovers that fairies aren't the only magical creatures in the world. There's also Halfers, misfits that are half fairy and half other—laced with strange magic and big-city attitude. As the war heats up, Callie's world falls apart. And even though she's the child of prophecy, she doubts she can save the Halfers, her people, her family, and Jack, let alone herself. The fairies all say Callie is the Bad Luck Girl, and she's starting to believe them.

A strong example of diversity in YA, the American Fairy Trilogy introduces Callie LeRoux, a half-black teen who stars in this evocative story full of American history and fairy tales.

Supports the Common Core State Standards.

Praise for Bad Luck Girl:

"All the powers that be want to use Callie's magic to win the war for their side, and nobody cares what happens to Callie, Jack or the Halfers, raising the stakes to frighteningly high levels. Callie and Zettel bring this stellar trilogy to a satisfyingly sentimental conclusion." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"[Zettel's] strong characterizations, historical detail, and carefully constructed fantastic elements create a high-energy literary fusion that fans will devour." —SLJ

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375869402
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/27/2014
Series:	American Fairy Trilogy Series
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

SARAH ZETTEL is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. She has written 18 novels and multiple short stories over the past 17 years in addition to practicing tai chi, learning to fiddle, marrying a rocket scientist, and raising a rapidly growing son. The American Fairy Trilogy is her first series for teens.

Editorial Reviews

Fourteen-year-old Callie thought that when she rescued her parents from the Seelie Court, her troubles would be over. But as this sequel to Dust Girl (2012) and Golden Girl (2013) opens, troubles abound. The half-fairy, heir to the Midnight Throne, is impulsive and willful; and while her quick decisions are made with good intentions, they seem to lead her best friend Jack and her parents further into trouble as she struggles to control her newly discovered magic and its ramifications. Even after the group manages to travel from Los Angeles to Jack’s hometown of Chicago, they cannot shake the Seelie King and his followers. As Callie tries to get her loved ones out of messes she has helped create, she is faced with a moral dilemma: her father, whose dark skin subjects him to the prejudices of America in the 1920s, shows the same contempt toward the Halfers, those half-magic, half-not creatures who are formed when wishes combine with various objects. Callie feels a reluctant affinity with this group that is neither one thing nor the other. Over time, she convinces her father that the Halfers hold the key to the full-scale war that must be mounted against the Seelies’ attack. Callie’s slow maturation, along with plenty of strange magic, makes this a fitting conclusion to the history-infused “The American Fairy Trilogy” series. Reviewer: Kim Dare; Ages 14 up.

Children's Literature - Kim Dare

Callie has just been reunited with her parents in this last book of the The American Fairy Trilogy. But she has also killed someone and is living with the guilt. Her heart is now torn by the plight of the Halfers. Just as she is half-fairy and half-human, they are half-fairy and half-whatever: paper, wood, wire … and all distrusting of Callie, uncertain whether she wants to help or harm them. The true hero is Callie’s human mother, protector and caretaker, unafraid to stand up to bullies, human or otherwise, and feeding everyone delicious meals along the way. Will Callie claim her role as the heir to the Midnight Throne of the fairies or be doomed by almost continual impulsive and bad decisions? An epilogue following the inevitable showdown with her uncle, the current ruler of the fairies, seems to promise a happy ending but… Callie is a complicated character. At times, she seems much older and wiser than fifteen; at other times, she is just a willful teen bent on doing what she wants and defying her parents’ rules meant to keep her safe. Her powerful fairy father remains a bit of a mystery. He, like the rest of the fairy folk, has many unexplainable characteristics. Like the rest of the characters, he has many facets. This is a thought-provoking trilogy. There is not the typical depiction of fairies or of their homes. 1920s Chicago is bleak and dominated by Hoovervilles and poverty. Still, there is magic in the air. Reviewer: Pam Carlson; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, June 2014 (Vol. 37, No. 2) - Pam Carlson

★ 2014-03-17
Calliope Margaret LeRoux deMinuit, half-human and half-Unseelie, Heir to the Midnight Throne, can save or destroy all of fairykind. Now that Callie and best friend Jack have rescued Callie's parents, everything's going to be just fine, right? Jack, Callie and her parents reach Depression-era Chicago, struggling against dangers both magical (cold iron, which has a worse effect on Callie's Unseelie father, Daniel LeRoux, than on half-fairy Callie) and mundane (the racism of Jim Crow, which endangers dark-skinned Daniel more than light-skinned, half-white Callie). After all the time she and Jack have spent fighting to escape the Seelie and Unseelie courts while rescuing Callie's folks, she's confident and independent. But her father is ancient, powerful and protective; Callie hates how Daniel's "ordering [her] around like a little kid." Zettel beautifully places this age-old generational conflict into her distinctive world. Callie and Jack want to help the Halfers, half-fairy elemental creatures composed of paper, electricity and other urban magics; Daniel calls them "Undone" and orders Callie to stay far away from the strange magic he despises. Ultimately, all the powers that be want to use Callie's magic to win the war for their side, and nobody cares what happens to Callie, Jack or the Halfers, raising the stakes to frighteningly high levels. Callie and Zettel bring this stellar trilogy to a satisfyingly sentimental conclusion. (Fantasy. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews