Constellation of Sylvie - Softcover

Townley, Roderick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416901477 ISBN 13: 9781416901471

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Boo, 2006

Synopsis

The inhabitants of the storybook world of The Great Good Thing are a bit bored - not much has happened since their adventures on the internet (in Into the Labyrinth). But more danger than they've ever faced arrives when the book is stowed away on a space shuttle embarking on a four-year mission to Jupiter. At first the main difficulty is adjusting to life in zero gravity, but when the shuttle misses its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, Sylvie and her friends must find a way to help the astronauts survive the additional four years in space. The solution comes in the form of ice collected from one of Jupiter's moons - melting and evaporating the ice provides enough oxygen to sustain the shuttle crew, but it also contains a compound that reverses the ageing process. Soon, the astronauts are only children, and their own lives, and the fate of the characters in the book, lie in the hands of Sylvie, who must reach into their dreams to help them make it back to Earth alive.

About this title

About the Author

Roderick Townley's first book about Sylvie, The Great Good Thing, was a Top-Ten Book Sense Pick, praised by Kirkus Reviews as "utterly winning...a book beloved from the first page." Its sequel, Into the Labyrinth, was hailed by the New York Times as "a hopping fine read." The present volume completes the Sylvie cycle. Mr. Townley has also published the novel Sky, described by VOYA as "one hell of a book," as well as volumes of poetry, nonfiction, and literary criticism. He has two children, Jesse and Grace, and is married to author Wyatt Townley.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-9–The story land inhabitants inside The Great Good Thing (2001) and Into the Labyrinth (2002, both S & S) now find themselves wrongly loaded onto a ship and launched into outer space. Princess Sylvie and her fictional costars find life inside a book turned upside down. Microgravity and the laws that bring normalcy to Earth are only the beginning of adjustments that the fleshly crew and book characters must overcome. Astronaut Kara is the only being to read the medieval drama when the mission is dealt a fatal blow. Trouble with the flight parallels trouble inside story land as Princess Sylvie realizes that the court jester Pingree has become her nemesis, and that the spaceship has missed its entrance to Earth's atmosphere. Even in the midst of her own grim problems, Princess Sylvie realizes that the fate of the astronauts depends on the intervention of the storybook crew. More than just cardboard characters, Princess Sylvie and the cast grow beyond their own narrow roles of text. The well-paced plot is in keeping with the first two books and beautifully marries two realities into a clever telling of tales. NASA space facts bring authenticity to two worlds existing on one plane. The quick pacing and easy reading add to an already witty blend.–Robyn Gioia, Bolles School, Ponte Vedra, FL
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Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Boo
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1416901477
• ISBN 13: 9781416901471
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208