The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum: 04/30/13

The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer is one of those surreal metafiction picture books that either works for you or not. As my daughter and I both tend to like these types of books, I purchased the copy on display at our local bookstore.

The title pretty much sums up what the book is about. There is a girl who, for unexplained reasons, lives inside of a castle, which in turn is on display in a museum. She is a living doll or something.

But like Watanuki in the later half of xxxHolic, holding down the shop for the missing Yuko, the girl can travel through dreaming. And here's the make it or break it point — the narration moves from third person to second person. Not only does she dream of places within the fictional world of her book, she also dreams of you, the reader.

The book ends with an interactive piece, asking the reader to draw a picture for the doll to dream of. Now, if you're little one likes that sort of interaction, it's a plus. If you're little one will be put off by that, skip this book.

Four stars

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