This was probably my favorite book I read in 2011. My friend gave it to me last year or the year before, and I always take a while to get to books that people have given me. I have to warm up to the concept of the book and get used to the cover and think about what mood would be the best for a read. I’m glad I waited so long to read it because the time/place for the read was perfect. I just enjoyed the hell out of this story. A lot of elements of the story hit my favorite things, and I loved its brightness and ease.

Ronia is a wild harpy of a little girl who runs through the forest, tames wild horses, and lives in a cave when she has a fight with her father. Her mother sings the wolf song at bedtime and Ronia teaches herself not to be afraid. But, sometimes she still is afraid.

I don’t have anything deep to say about this book, but for me it had just the right combination of reality and fantasy, sadness and hope. It didn’t shy away from harshness, but it wasn’t trying to beat me over the head with life. Maybe in another mood I would have been bothered by the fairy-tale quality of it, but I really loved that in this particular mood. It is also difficult to say how I would have felt about this as a kid, but I like to think I would have loved it. It has an unselfconscious wild girlness that I hope I’ve always loved.