The Puppet Wrangler. Vicki Grant. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2004. 212 pp., pbk., $8.95. ISBN 1-55143-304-4. Grades 4-8 / Ages 9-14. Review by Michelle Warry. ** /4 Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy.

excerpt:

I don't know who was more freaked out. Me or Bitsie slash Zola. We just looked at each other and screamed for a while.

Then something happened that never happens in real life, but happens all the time on those lame TV sitcoms.

We both went, "What are you doing here?!?" at exactly the same time.

The puppet stood there glaring at me as if I just let my dog poop on his lawn or something.

My heart was pounding and my brain was really noisy. It was like someone in my mind was in a big panic, running from room to room going, "Do you know why this puppet's talking? Do you know why this puppet's talking?" But nobody did.

None of this made any sense. How could a puppet walk and talk on its own? And why was it so mad at me? Maybe I wasn't supposed to be at the studio by myself-- but I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be there either.

I decided the best thing to do was just act like this was all a dream, which I figured it probably was. I'd just play along with it and see what was up. That meant I had to answer him/her/it. (How hard could that be? Even I find it easy to talk when I'm only talking to myself.)

I said, "I'm here because it reminds me of my room at home. I have a little hiding place under my bed I call Dreemland. What are you doing here?"

In The Puppet Wrangler, Vicki Grant has taken a traditional kind of children's fantasy-- the toy come to life-- and given it a modern Canadian twist. This novel is funny and fun, as well as chock full of current pop culture references. Bitsie, the living puppet who is a little closer to Chuckie than Winnie-the-Pooh, provides an entertaining hook.

     Twelve-year-old Telly Mercer narrates her own story in a glib, flippant voice dripping with sarcasm. The smooth, cheeky tone should appeal to fans of Judy Moody (at the younger end of the nine to fourteen recommended age range) and "The Gossip Girls" (at the older end). Other appealingly ultra-hip textual elements include hilarious footnotes, letters, emails, and lists interspersed between chunks of well-paced and tightly structured narrative.

     Quiet Telly is used to her quiet life in a small Nova Scotia town and to being constantly overshadowed by Bess, her charming juvenile delinquent older sister. Telly is understandably overwhelmed when her parents send her to Toronto to stay with "pointy" Aunt Kathleen so that they can spend more time trying to "help" Bess. Aunt Kathleen is a busy television producer. She's neither maternal nor particularly responsible. As a result, Telly is unceremoniously abandoned on the set of the Bitsie 'n' Bytesie show for preschoolers. First charmed by all the free junk food, then fascinated by the elaborate world behind the scenes of a television show, and finally shocked by a puppet come to life, Telly is content there. During the day, she is entertained by the antics of the puppeteers, director, and other staff. In the evenings, she and Bitsie hang out together and become great friends, so Telly isn't lonely. In fact, her life in Toronto is very enjoyable until Bitsie becomes more and more demanding. He forces Telly to take him to the mall (Bitsie is the ultimate consumer--because of all the television he watches) by blackmailing her. She takes the risk (it's a great risk, as Bitsie is worth $10,000), but eventually that is not enough for him. Bitsie desperately wants to make a pilgrimage to Quebec to meet the puppet-maker who put him together. When Telly finally agrees, things get really exciting.

     The Puppet Wrangler is an entertaining work of light, humourous fantasy. Reality is exaggerated, and elements of the unreal slide in believably. Although characters are not much more than well-detailed types (especially Zola, the puppet wrangler herself, who has the potential to be a unique and interesting character), they are quirky and engaging. The plot is smoothly delivered and compelling. The painlessly conveyed factual information about television production in general, and puppets in particular, is sure to fascinate readers as much as it does Telly. And beneath its funny, glossy exterior, this novel touches on themes of adult hypocrisy, social acceptability, individuality and the dangerous seductions of consumerism.

Recommended.

Michelle Warry is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Children's Literature program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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