Review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Release Date: September 27th, 2011 by HarperCollins
Details: 313 pages, hardcover
Series: No
Source: Amazon Vine (Thank you Amazon Vine!)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (goodreads):

Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else. 

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

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o0.| My Thoughts |.0o

I was expecting a pretty light and fluffy read since this was more a children's book than anything but, that is not what I got. Hazel frequently lets her imagination run wild and as a child, she shouldn't feel so out of place because of it. But she does. The only person who could ever understand is her best friend Jack, who's imagination also runs just as wild. I felt bad for the things Hazel had to go through and I felt frustrated when her mother wouldn't understand and I panicked right along with her when Jack disappeared.

The book has a bit of a slow start, but you do get the background stories for everyone involved. But once Hazel ventured out into the unknown in search of Jack, that's when things got really good. Stepping into a fairy tale forest should be enchanting, shouldn't it? For Hazel, it wasn't. It was horrible and confusing and scary. And nothing seemed to make sense! I admired her determination to find Jack and how hard she pushed herself even after knowing Jack might not want to come back.

I loved the references to many other fairy tales in this book and I loved the scary parts that made you think of the button eyed mom in Caroline.

And this might be a bit spoilery, but I also loved how the queen asked Jack if he'd like a Turkish Delight before whisking him away lol.

I've never read The Snow Queen and the only thing close to it I can imagine is Narnia but either way, I absolutely enjoyed this read and I enjoyed joining Hazel on her epic adventure!