Quickie Review - "The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic"

Heroic adventures can start in so many different ways. They can start with prophesies and magical destinies, or they can start with something as simple as the wind blowing away your hat while you trek through the forest. This is how the adventures of Persimmony Smudge begin in The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton. They begin with such a simple act of losing her hat, but they continue on, leading her into a face-off with a poison-tongued jumping tortoise, into the throne room of a rotten boy king and into the super secret domain of the Leaf Eaters. The story in Trafton's debut novel is light, fluffy and full of life. It rarely gets more than skin deep, but that's okay. Persimmony and her colorful supporting cast of characters skim the surface of the fantasy on nimble feet. The wonderful mood of the book is helped tremendously by the illustrations of Brett Helquist, who always makes things better, I find. All in all, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic is a splendidly enjoyable first novel, and Trafton is certainly someone I will be looking out for in the future.

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton
2010, Dial Books
Library copy