Author: Emma Steinkellner
Illustrator: Emma Steinkellner
© Date: 2024
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Pages: 180
Chapters: No – which makes it easy to lose track of time reading
Illustrations: Yes, graphic novel
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No, but the end does have the play that Nell and her friends practiced
Summary from Book: Dear Journal, Welcome back to Gumbling, my extremely normal fairy-tale hometown. and things couldn’t be more happily-ever-awesome, because I’m about to go on a Gumbling rite of passage – the Wilderness Engagement Adventure. I mean, yeah, it’s in an ENCHANTED forest that’s full of gumblecreatures, where your most secret wish could be granted at any moment, but that’s nothing unusual around here.
What’s REALLY magical is that I get to be on a team with ALL my best friends, learning about nature stuff and teamwork and having our very own campout (including roasting marshmallows)! And we have the chance to win these gorgeous, incredible, specially embroidered MDWEA champion jackets. (This is serious. I need to win that jacket.) Great friends + forest fun + champion team + best summer ever.
EXCEPT…Gil has been acting all cranky lately, and everyone’s secret crushes are making things super awkward-and, oh year, did I mention we all got SHRUNK down to Thumbkin size? I just want to have the perfect summer, but it seems like the Enchanted Forest has other ideas…
Page Pig Thoughts: While I appreciated the growth of the characters, I did not like this one as much as the first one. The lessons on learning how to work through our feelings and listen to others were lovely. The story just didn’t capture me as much this time. Worth noting is that this one is rather crush based, Nell even states that the forest turned everyone “into gooey, lovesick crush-havers.” Adventures and personal growth definitely happened, but the crushes were a large part of the narrative.
Family Unit:
- Nell (12) lives with her two dads; younger brother, Rib (10); and younger sister Schmitty, (6)
- Myra has an older sister
- Gil lives with his mother
- Dani lives with their mother, father, and twin brother
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Nell doesn’t understand why Gil is so grumpy.
- Gil is frustrated that Nell is being too nice to him and trying to force positivity on him.
- Nell and her friends learn how different and scary the forest feels when you are Gil’s Thumbkin size.
Positive Items:
- This bit really spoke to me. “It’s all little stuff! All we can do is a little bit at a time. But if we work together, all our little stuffs will add up to something bigger.”
- Gil learns that being tiny does not make him weak. He learns that he can work through things.
- Dani takes the attitude that “something will happen” and doesn’t get overly scared of difficult situations.
- This one also spoke to me. “I don’t need to be in control to be happy.” Nell, like a lot of us, is surprised to realize how much she has been trying to control in her life.
- Nell learns to appreciate how hard life can be for Gil when things are not designed for someone his size. Even using a pencil is a skill when the pencil is larger than you.
- Nell learns that she can’t control her friends’ emotions or life, she just needs to meet things where they are at.
Items of Interest:
- Nell is excited to take MDWEA, which is a week in the forest in the summer, rather than get stuck in boring TKS, which is a half hour after lunch for a month. Past having that half hour to do something more fun, she really wants the fancy champion jacket that you can win at MDWEA. Everyone else wants that jacket too, the jacket is super amazing.
- Nell gets on a MDWEA team with her friends, Myra, Leabelle, Voila, and Gil.
- Nell has a crush on Romesh, her team guide that is in high school.
- Sage the guide is referred to with a they pronoun. Sage does not appear much at all in the story though.
- Romesh the guide is super competitive with another guide, Zora (Myra’s older sister).
- Gil has been rather unhappy since before MDWEA. He really struggles in the forest because he is so tiny. His mother was scared for him and reluctant to even let him go because he is so small. They are Thumbkins though, they are tiny by nature.
- Nell is trying to cheer Gil up. Gil wishes that everyone could know how it felt to be small. Since they are in an Enchanted Forest, his wish comes to pass. Gil feels guilty because he didn’t really mean for it to happen.
- To prevent them from winning, a different team captures the tiny team in a jar and deposits them in the woods.
- Dani and their friends, fellow Forest Thumbkins, rescue the tiny team from possibly drowning in the stream.
- Dani has a they pronoun.
- Gil finds out that he was born in Thumby Hollow in the forest and that his mother was a bit of a daredevil before he was born.
- Gil helps Romesh cross a log covered in snails, which Romesh happens to be seriously afraid of (even when regular sized).
- Nell learns that you can’t force positivity on someone. Sometimes you just have to listen to someone else’s feelings and help them work through them.
- Nell and her friends finally make it to Yabulga the witch’s hut and are returned to their normal size.
- Voila meets a kindred spirit in a Forest Thumbkin. They agree to continue their friendship even when Voila is returned to normal size.
- By the time that they make it back to camp, Nell and her friends find it funny that they were unable to win the jackets. They still wanted them, but they accepted that they didn’t even fulfill the requirements of MDWEA because they were trying to survive the forest in tiny form instead of completing tasks.
- Gil tells his mom that she can’t keep him safe all the time, and he doesn’t want her to worry to much about him because he is learning to take care of himself. He also tells his mother that he would like to visit Thumby Hollow in the forest with her more often.
- Crush summary – Gil used to have a crush on Leabelle, but stopped when he realized that she wouldn’t feel that way about him because he is tiny. Nell had a crush on Romesh until she had adventured around with him for awhile. Romesh had a crush on Zora, they have plans to meet up at the end of the story. Dani has a crush on Gil. Myra and Leabelle start dating, Voila says that they are being “too cute” in their affections.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 1 – Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy Tale Life (review)
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