Blurb for the back cover:

“Intriguing, funny and sometimes a little sad.”

I finished reading Rosie Little’s Cautionary Tales for Girls while riding the bus. It was a bittersweet achievement. Sweet because I had just finished a book that I greatly enjoyed. Bitter because I was on the bus now with nothing to do.

You are probably thinking, “Why are you reading a book that says it is for girls in the title?” Let me address that. While girls will probably get the most out of this book, the book itself can be read by any gender. You may also be thinking “Who is this Rosie Little?” Rosie Little is the creation of Danielle Wood. She is the book’s protagonist who through the losses her own innocence tells us of her experience growing up and hopes to instill us with valuable life lessons ranging from her thoughts on loosing your virginity to warning us of the dangers of overseas travel. The style in which these cautionary tales for told to us reminded me very much of the style Daniel Handler of Lemony Snicket fame. Although now that I see the two names on the same page, I am not wholly convinced that they are different people. Danielle, Daniel. It also doesn’t help that the hardbound version of this book is roughly the same as the Series of Unfortunate Events books. I’ll have to investigate their possible connection further. Anyway, as I was saying, most of the stories focus on Rosie but occasionally focus on somebody Rosie knew. The second story in the book tells the horrifying tale of what happens when somebody gave Rosie’s cousin a small figurine of an elephant. Then she got another and another and before she knew what was happening, her whole life is surrounded by them. She didn’t even like elephants in the first place. Mayhaps if she had told the truth to her friends and family, which is the lesson Rosie wants us to learn, then Rosie’s cousin wouldn’t have found herself in the hilariously awkward situation involving two naked men and a birthday party.

Danielle Wood has created the perfect book that found a special spot in my heart that I normally reserve for short-story collections. These tales are intriguing, funny and sometimes a little sad.

You can pick up the book at Powells or Amazon, heck any bookstore works.

Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 5:44 pm.
Filed under: Book Review, Thoughts on Books.