Fantastic Friday: Kat, Incorrigible

Kat, Incorrigible
by Stephanie Burgis
Atheneum, 2011
Grades 4 and up
Reviewed from copy provided by publisher.

I confess, I've been waiting for this one for over a year.  It just sounded like a delightful read.  And it was well worth the wait.  Kat is just the sort of character that I love to read about.  She's feisty and loyal and determined, but very human in her mistakes.

When Kat learns that her sister, Elissa, in order to save the family from disgrace, is being pushed into a marriage with Sir Neville, a rich widower about whom rumors swirl, she is determined to stop it.  When her first plan involving running away dressed as a boy to London fails, she must come up with another plan to save her sister and family.  Taking place in the Victorian era, this has shades of Jane Austen, except for a younger age and with magic thrown in for good measure.  I found the writing to be good but not perfect, but the real fun is in the characters and plot.  Almost immediately the reader starts cheering for Kat in her efforts to help, despite the fact that her plans tend to be rather dramatic and impulsive in nature.  When Kat investigates her mother's things, she discovers a world very different from the one she has known, but throws herself into the magical realm with as much enthusiasm as she does everything.  I found the book to be delightful and well worth reading multiple times.  Definitely one of my favorites of the year.