A lovely, intense, fantastic picture book. 'Brave Irene' is about a young girl, Irene Bobbin, who delivers her sick mother's handmade dress to a duchess through a terrible snowstorm. That's about it, and yet there is more to it than that.
I love the admiration and devotion that Irene has towards her mother, and the pretty dress that Mrs Bobbin had made. I could already tell that their relationship is refreshingly positive. Irene puts her ill mother to bed and then sets out, almost without Mrs Bobbin knowing, on her ballgown errand, not realising that her helpful task will turn out to be much more perilous than she could have imagined.
Irene is so determined, strong-willed and selfless for a child - it is her incredibly dangerous journey, one she makes entirely on her own, that we follow through with her. For a short book, the reader is nonetheless made to hold their breath as Irene trudges her way further and further towards her destination, or away from it, as it appears she may well be lost in the freezing storm, in the dark, in the deep, deep snow...
I dare not spoil anything else. But you will love Irene as you bravely get closer and closer to the end.
'Brave Irene' - It's exactly as the title says. A must-read children's classic; a forgotten feminist children's classic. I noticed one inconsistency - did the author forget about Irene's broken ankle until the end? - but apart from that, after finishing this triumph you will surely find that the whole child-in-needless-deadly-danger book was worth it. In a way it's a life inspiration.
We all have a bit of Brave Irene inside of us. To pick us up when we are down. When we are alone and scared. She teaches us to never, ever give up, and to believe that things will turn out for the best. To believe in hope.
Final Score: 4/5
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