The firefly crown by Yxavel Magno Diño
The firefly crown, in a nutshell, is a story about a small girl who learns to control an unusual power and after many challenges and life-threatening trials, wins a comfortable living for her poor, hard-working parents whilst simultaneously finding the ability to follow her dream in life. This narrative is a blend of several overlapping tropes: the wonder child, the fool's journey (the underestimated child), the zero-to-hero underdog and the prodigal hero (returning home with newfound wealth). Whenever a small, unassuming, central protagonist has to battle great odds to come through in the end, we all love to identify and cheer them on. Yumi (our central character), belonging in this category, incrementally discovers extraordinary powers, navigates different worlds, battles frightening physical and social situations but never loses sight of her humble beginnings and the love of her parents.
Yumi must learn to wield her insect power. She struggles to harness the power of the cricket. The empire is attacked by a swarm of undead bugs which turn everything they touch into decay. Only the firefly crown can save it but when that is stolen the hordes threaten. All of the sorcerers (who are insects of some kind) are called to the coronation of the princess. Yumi is blamed for the loss of the crown. At great peril and with the help of friends she attempts to save the empire.
The firefly crown is action packed. This reader senses that The firefly crown lends itself more to the manga /graphic novel style rather than continuous prose. The prose, at times, is slightly clunky with some mismatched action/word timing. This means that occasionally passages have to be reread for sense. A graphic novel version would improve reading flow and ease of understanding by adding visual support to the text in a style that could be very closely associated with manga.
Nevertheless, Yumi is an engaging heroine. Her friendship group works as they collaborate to defeat evil. The play with anthropomorphism with spider soldiers being half human/half spider and other insects exhibiting dual behaviours and emotions is interesting. Imagine riding on a spider and running up walls and upside down across ceilings. This is the kind of action that occurs.
Author Yxavel Magno Dino is of Filipino heritage and... "writes stories about her Filipino heritage and its fantastical folklore." The firefly crown certainly fits this description and as suggested by Booklist, The firefly crown is "...reminiscent of the darker-themed Miyazaki films..." certainly not as sweet as My neighbour Totoro - perhaps more like Princess Mononoke in that there is intense action and some violence. The trope of the small and unassuming character coming into their own, protecting family and realms and helping good win over evil comes through. This idea supports children to realise that they can have agency too and that there are other children out there who can sometimes feel undervalued but can and might do very surprising things (for the universal good) when they come of age.
Themes: Family, Friendship, Courage, Filipino mythology, Adventure/fantasy, Insectoids, The underdog.
Wendy Jeffrey