Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Impossible
Nancy Werlin
ISBN 9780803730021
376 pages

Genre: Faerie

Reader's Annotation
With the help of her boyfriend and foster parents, Lucy Scarborough must solve impossible riddles to reverse the curse an evil faerie has placed upon her mother and generations of Scarborough women.


Plot Summary
Lucy Scarborough is a typical junior; she's been raised her whole life by her loving and devoted foster parents, though her mother, who is insane, appears from time to time on the periphery of her life, always singing the old folk song "Are You Going to Scarbourough Fair?" At her junior prom, Lucy is visited and raped by an evil fairy, the Elfin Knight, who impregnates her and tells her of her fate: he has cursed countless women in her family. They all become teenage mothers and have all descended into madness.  The only chance Lucy has of escaping her fate is by completing three impossible tasks detailed in the song "Scarborough Fair": make a magical shirt without seams or needlework; find an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand; and to plow that land with a goat's horn and sow it all with one grain of corn.

Lucy, however, has one thing on her side that none of her ancestors did. Her foster parents believe her fantastical story and are determined to help her; so does the boy next door, Zach. Lucy has also found a diary left for her by her mother and written before she went crazy, that may contain clues that will help her solve the riddles.

Critical Evaluation
This was an incredibly clever conceit for a book. Werlin has crafted an intriguing structure for her story, and it's especially clever how she uses the already exisiting song of "Scarborough Fair" to draw in the reader. She seamlessly balances the fantastical elements of the story in with a very realistic and recognizable high school world. Werlin has made Lucy into a very pragmatic, skeptical character; by having Lucy directly address whether or not her story can possible be real, Werlin helps the reader suspend belief, too.

The puzzles are fun for the reader to work on, and the answers to them are satisfying. Though they are old fairy tale tasks, Lucy, Zach, and her parents use very modern resources and techniques to solve them.  It's a largely wonderful book. However, Werlin spends a little too much time setting up her story; its progression and resolution seem slightly rushed.

About the author
Nancy Werlin, a National Book Award finalist for her previous book, The Rules of Survival, has written a number of popular and critically acclaimed young adult novels. Impossible is her first foray into the world of romance and fantasy; her previous books have been tightly crafted thrillers.

Curriculum Ties
None

Booktalking Ideas
1. Start out by playing or singing a bit of "Scarborough Fair," and then explain how Lucy must complete the three impossible tasks contained in the song.
2. In the booktalk, convey the dual nature of the book by equally focusing on Lucy's everyday teenage problems and the fantastical fairy tale element of this book.
3. Focus on the romance between Lucy and Zach.

Reading Interest/Level: 8th grade and up

Challenge Issues
Lucy is supernaturally raped. There is also a teenage wedding and the insinuation that Lucy will be turned into the Elfin Knight's sex slave for all eternity.

If this book is challenged, the librarian should read it if possible; if not, s/he should read as many professional reviews as possible of the book, as well as read about it on a site like Common Sense Media, that lists all of the details that might possible be controversial.

The librarian should be able to present and defend the library's collection policy to the challenger and explain how the book meets those criteria. S/he could point out Nancy Werlin's many previous awards, the many glowing reviews this book has received (starred reviews in both Kirkus and School Library Review), and its inclusion of several best of the year book lists already.

Selection Criteria
This book was singled out as "Outstanding" by four separate librarians in the Association for Children's Librarians of Northern California, which intrigued me. I also was very interested in the idea of a teen fantasy novel set in a very realistic setting.