THE MARVELOUS LAND OF SNERGS

A reworked version of a classic 1927 British fairy story by E.A. Wyke-Smith that strongly influenced J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Cossanteli takes two wayward orphans from the rule-bound confines of the Sunny Bay Home for Superfluous and Accidentally Parentless Children (presided over by Miss Watkyns, a spit-spot mistress distinctly akin to Mary Poppins) into a magic land of goblin-infested swamps and tunnels, armored knights, giant crocopotami, and like terrifying threats. There are also witches good and evil and, most prominently, Snergs, who are a race of short, merry, food- and story-loving folk with names like Wilmus and Pompo. Punctuated by the occasional feast (and sharp comments about the shortcomings of bad parents), the round of exciting chases, captures, and narrow escapes culminate in multiple transformations, from a physical one for fiendishly clever and scary witch Malicia and inner ones for electively mute orphan Flora and her unschooled friend Pip to their Snerg guardian Gorbo’s makeover from bumbling scatterbrain to hero, loyal and true. Castrillón supplies elegantly antique montages and spot art, with occasional views of the light-skinned central characters. This story, with clever wordplay and echoes of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, will delight.

A breezy refresh for a little-known story with all sorts of intriguing associations.