- Title:
- Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
- Author:
- Georgia Byng
- Genre:
- Chapter book
- Audience:
- 8-10 years
- Annotation:
- Unstoppable, 10-year-old orphan Molly Moon uses her new-found talent for hypnotism to escape her orphanage for the excitement of New York and Broadway.
- Review:
-
Molly Moon came highly recommended (in my weblog comments, by a Canadian children's librarian who said it was her
latest favourite
), but I have to admit that it doesn't live up to my expectations. It's not a bad book, but it's simply too shallow and too much like Harry Potter for me to be very convinced by its characters and story.Like Harry, Molly Moon is an orphan living in an intolerable situation, which she escapes by a form of
magic:
hypnotism. Molly uses her new-found talent for hypnotism to control everyone around her: the headmistress, her fellow orphans, airline employees... Molly's powers are apparently without limit, even though in reality, hypnotism can't make people do things that they're completely opposed to. It can only suggest, but Molly uses it to bring people completely under her will. The one limitation to Molly's hypnosis is that its influence will eventually wear off, but we don't find that out until the very end of the book, when Molly's friend Rocky tells her about it.The book would be a lot better if its characters were more round (even Molly is flat as a pancake) and if Molly grew through the book. There's no real sense that she learns anything on her adventures; even though Molly makes different choices at the end, those choices and the lessons that led to them are taught through words, not action. For example, if Molly got in trouble because she was over-confident and her influence on someone wore off, that would be a more realistic way of learning about the limitations of her powers. Overall, the book could do with a healthy shot of realism.
- Comparison:
-
Both reviews compare Molly Moon to Lemony Snicket's books (which I unfortunately have not read, so I cannot comment). Both reviews also inaccurately describe Molly's foe as a
professor;
although the text initially refers to him asProfessor Nockman,
he is not a professor but a professional thief, and most of the book refers to him as simplyNockman.
The reviews differ most severely in their opinions about the book's conclusion. While Rogers speaks favorably of Molly Moon's
satisfying and very moral ending,
Kirkus Reviews' anonymous article is critical of the ending:The salvation of archetypically evil (and archetypically disgusting) villains is dissatisfying in a tale that seems otherwise to be drawing on Roald Dahl and Lemony Snickett. Clumsy, but amusing.
Molly Moon is no doubt hilarious for kids, but cheap laughs are no sacrifice for true story-telling.Rev. of Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, by Georgia Byng. Kirkus Reviews 15 April 2003: 605.
Rogers, Susan L. Rev. of Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, by Georgia Byng. School Library Journal June 2003: 137.
Little Librarian says:
Sorry you didn't care for it! Ah well. I tend to read books like a kid would, I think, just for enjoyment, and don't do much critical reading any more beyond getting a general feeling about the book. No time for it and I'm not particularly good at being a grown-up, anyway. :)
Laurabelle says:
It's all right that I didn't like it. In fact, I should read books that I don't naturally like, so I can learn to appreciate their worth for other people. I'm a pretty critical reader myself, and I'm extremely demanding about characters. (Plot I don't really care about, but give me real characters.) I need to learn to see past that and to understand and predict what other people are going to want to read.
molly moon says:
well, i personally loved the book(s). i think it'd be great for a fifth grader.