Walton, Leslye. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. Candlewick, 2014.

I have been watching my cursor blink for several minutes now, trying to decide the best way to start this review. Some contenders…

I just really loved this book and can’t say exactly why..

A beautifully written, lyrical story. So many times I had to just stop and reread Walton’s prose…

I’ve been trying to get to ALA’s youth media award winners, and am so glad I chose this William C. Morris YA Debut finalist...

I love feathers. So I was immediately intrigued by the feather on this book as I was going through my YMA winners. This beautiful tale of a girl with wings certainly lives up to the loveliness of the cover!

I’ve been pondering our tendency to label books this week and am enjoying the irony of having read this book that defies categorization. A winner of YA award and marketed as YA, this multi layered tale of love and loss speaks to readers of all ages...

I couldn’t put this book down….

All of the above is true. I find it difficult to summarize the story. While the story is of Ava Lavender and narrated by her, we travel back in time 3 generations and cross the ocean to get the full sense of her family and the magic of her life. Women love and tragically lose their loves. Sisters become birds and mothers disappear into a pile of ashes. After several chapters, these generations culminate in the birth of beautiful Ava Lavender with her beautiful ethereal wings. Her story is unspeakably beautiful and sad.

I love the powerful language. The imagery is beautiful and evokes myths and fairy tales. The magical realism just snuck up on me. I was perfectly able to believe that a woman who is overlooked will eventually just fade away to a pile of ash. Desserts that can make people weep seem perfectly reasonable. Ava’s wings? Of course. Ghosts who can communicate with a select few and impact the course of their lives. Yes.

I think I will have to read it again to fully appreciate its message, and I will do that, but in the mean time, I will be talking my older, more sophisticated readers into reading it with me so that we can talk about it. The content is a bit mature for my younger folks. Though to be honest, I can already tell a couple who will grow into this one. I will be setting aside a time to talk to my 20 something daughter who picked it up based on its beautiful cover. This is a book that demands to be read and discussed and read again.