Because, of course, in the end, there is no one way to be a girl. It's both an eerie, dark fairy tale and a takedown of ideas about what it means to be a girl. She had tried to make sure they knew that there were a hundred, a thousand, a million different ways to be a girl, and that all of them were valid, and that neither of them was doing anything wrong. That's when they enter a different world - one of magic and death and different paths. But as they get older they start to wonder a single, old question: why? That's when they find the impossible staircase with the door that disappears behind them. And Jillian- the short-haired tomboy to replace the boy her father wanted but never got. Jacqueline- her mother's pretty princess, who wears pink dresses and never plays outside where she might get *gasp* dirty. In this book, Jacqueline and Jillian (or Jack and Jill) have been brought up to fit a mold created by their parents. But also has all the unsettling atmosphere of its predecessor. This second in the series is a completely new story, so it can be easily read as a standalone. I was captivated by Every Heart a Doorway last year, and couldn't wait to get into more of the author's weirdness with Down Among the Sticks and Bones. I love McGuire's dark little fairy tales so so much. Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.
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