If I Promise You Wings

October 23, 2023
Small (Bright Burning Stars) transports readers to Paris in this dreamy portrait of grief, fashion, and love. White 17-year-old Alix Leclaire and her best friend since childhood, Jeanne, have a pact to achieve their greatest dreams—Alix will become a renowned feather artist by apprenticing with Mademoiselle Salomé and Jeanne will become a famous rock star. When Jeanne is killed in a car accident shortly after graduation, Alix is left reeling, with only their pact and her goal as a guidepost. With Jeanne’s vivacious voice ringing in her head and urging her on, Alix approaches Mademoiselle Salomé and receives an internship at her boutique, Mille et Une Plume. But the world of fashion and feathers is a cutthroat, complicated place, made even more complex by the amorous attentions of two divergent suitors: Raven, Mademoiselle Salomé’s gorgeous artist son, and Jeanne’s musician friend Blaise. Unhurried, ethereal prose works well to present this fanciful rendition of learning how to move on. Elements of seemingly unlimited freedom, found family, impossible dreams, and dancing on the Eiffel Tower in the rain make this lyrical novel a sure thing for romantics and Francophiles alike. Ages 14–up.

November 1, 2023
After her best friend's death, a 17-year-old French girl makes the leap to becoming a feather artist in a Parisian boutique. Alix Leclaire can rarely express her feelings, whether it's not wanting her father to leave for weeks at a time to pursue his musical ambitions or her frustrations with best friend Jeanne, who prioritizes boys and partying over their friendship. After Jeanne dies in a car crash, Alix pushes past her shyness and approaches Mademoiselle Salom�, owner of the boutique Mille et Une Plume, about an apprenticeship, soon setting herself on a path of romance. Flirtatious Raven, Mademoiselle Salom�'s son, brings an element of fun into Alix's life, while Blaise, a boy from Alix's past, grounds her with his cozy qualities and talent with the guitar. But even as the boutique begins to craft wings for the Moulin Rouge, feeding Alix's dreams, she must figure out what she wants to do and who she wants to be with. Although the book has a slight overabundance of tragic backstories, the melancholy tone is balanced against vivid descriptions of the fashion elements and moments of spontaneity to create a romantic, theatrical mood. French is sprinkled throughout, firmly cementing the Parisian setting. While full catharsis remains just out of reach, readers will remain intrigued by the locale and atmosphere until the finale. Alix and Blaise are coded white; Raven and his mother have brown skin. A prettily executed account of a young woman learning how to spread her wings. (Fiction. 14-18)

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December 1, 2023
Grades 8-11 Enamored by the world of feathers and design, Alix dives into work at a premier feather boutique as she grieves the death of her best friend. With her mother gone for good and her father inattentive, Alix is left to live the life of her choosing: she stays above the feather boutique and becomes romantically entangled with the owner's son. But can Alix really live the life she's dreamed if she can't move on from Jeanne's death? Set in dazzling, breathtaking Paris, If I Promise You Wings draws readers into Small's (Bright Burning Stars, 2019) vibrant world of plumes. Though details of a potential design for the Moulin Rouge and the handmade nature of the impressive feather costume elements suggest a more antique setting, mentions of cell phones and a number of characters' involvement in the music industry place the book firmly in contemporary times. At times romantic, this ultimately offers emotional notes similar to Kelly Yang's Private Label (2022), which also shares this publication's interest in clothing design. A sparkling, unusual novel.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Alix is a recently graduated Parisian teen who is perhaps feeling more adrift than the average 17-year-old. Her mother left the family when she was young, her musician father is frequently absent, and her best friend and the most consistent companion, Jeanne, died in a car crash soon after graduation. The one thing Alix has left to hold onto is her dream of becoming a high-fashion feather artist, which she seems one step closer to when she gets a job at the boutique of the most prestigious feather artist in the city. Alix hopes to work her way up to become Madame Salom�'s apprentice, however, the road to artistic greatness is not easy. While Alix hones her talents, she also processes her friend's passing, makes friends, and explores romance. Readers will feel quickly at home among the feather bins at Mille et une Plume and get swept up in the life Alix creates for herself among fellow artists, musicians, and even nobility. Her steamy romantic entanglements with the shop owner's charming son and Jeanne's friend, a guitarist, will satisfy romance-lovers, though it doesn't detract from Alix's story of working toward her dreams and reckoning with her memory of her late friend. VERDICT A charming story of personal growth that glitters with the art and culture of modern Paris.-Joanna Harris

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