A Hat Full of Sky: The Continuing Adventures of Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men [Mass Market Paperback]

Terry Pratchett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

It's a staple of children's literature: A plucky young girl discovers that she's different and special and goes off to learn the ways of her kind. Tiffany Aching first appeared in last year's The Wee Free Men as a brave, cunning, frying-pan-wielding 9-year-old from the chalk country who learns that she's destined to be a witch, as her grandmother was before her. In this sequel, set two years later, she leaves home to become an apprentice to Miss Level, an older witch with two bodies and one mind. As before, comic relief and legwork arrive courtesy of Tiffany's allies, the Nac Mac Feegle or "Pictsies" -- tiny, super-strong blue elves with Scottish accents and Yosemite Sam attitudes. British fantasy author Terry Pratchett has set Tiffany's adventures on Discworld, the site of his novels for grown-ups; older readers may recognize a few familiar characters.

Pratchett's a lively writer who can rarely resist a good gag, and he's got a lot of them. But the thematic underpinnings that made The Wee Free Men such a pleasure to read turn sour here. The point of the first book was that witches are able to manipulate reality mostly because they observe things carefully and think about them clearly -- what Pratchett calls "First Sight and Second Thoughts." (Well, that is something that makes people different and special.) In A Hat Full of Sky, though, witches spend a great deal more time riding broomsticks and casting spells. That's odd, since Pratchett establishes that their main duty is to bustle around taking care of the sick, the poor and the lonely -- sort of a cross between country doctors and old-fashioned vicars. And Tiffany's wits have little to do with the hocus-pocus that resolves the story here.

The main plot of A Hat Full of Sky concerns Tiffany being possessed by a "hiver," a hermit-crab-like entity that moves into its victim's consciousness and sets its host body's id loose, making it act on suppressed desires and absorbing its original personality into a shared hive-mind. (There is a rather labored chain of beekeeping imagery that accompanies this idea.) Under the hiver's thrall, Tiffany becomes a vicious, show-offy brat, stealing money from the helpless, turning people into frogs and much worse. Once she reasserts her personality, though, she's almost literally allowed to get away with murder: The harm she's done by letting her will become law is brushed aside or, in one case, converted into a blessing by the Nac Mac Feegle. ("It's an unfair world, child," Mistress Weatherwax tells her. "Be glad you have friends.") The moral, effectively, is that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Pratchett is often very funny. His narrative voice is entertainingly flippant, and his gags have a vaudevillian sense of comic timing, as when Tiffany visits a souvenir shop in a flyspeck of a town called Twoshirts: "The little old lady behind the counter called her 'young lady' and said that Twoshirts was very popular later in the year, when people came from up to a mile around for the Cabbage Macerating Festival."

Witches, in Pratchett's Discworld, have witch trials in the same sense that sheep farmers have sheepdog trials -- they get together and show off their latest tricks. A wizard in the back room of a wand-and-potion shop has a mug labeled, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MAGIC TO WORK HERE BUT IT HELPS!"

Still, a book about a young magician in training can't avoid comparisons to the Harry Potter series. Pratchett's jokes aren't as resonant, and Miss Level's cottage is no Hogwarts. Even J.K. Rowling's minor characters have psychological depth, and her teachers are so fully developed that the Potter books double as stories about pedagogy. Here, though, everyone besides Tiffany is a two-dimensional cipher -- the senior witches, in particular, are nearly interchangeable good-hearted eccentrics. Harry grows up and changes from volume to volume, but 11-year-old Tiffany thinks and acts almost exactly like her 9-year-old self, which is fairly unusual where actual children are concerned.

After a strong beginning, A Hat Full of Sky becomes frustratingly sloppy. The Pictsies, Pratchett has established, believe that they are already dead and that the world they inhabit, full of booze and adventure, is Heaven -- so it doesn't quite click when they talk fearfully about dying, or offer to accompany Tiffany into the realm of Death. They drive the hiver into submission by beating it up inside Tiffany's mind until the hills to which she's mystically connected rise up within her subconscious and rescue her, and if you don't think that makes much sense, you're right. And the conclusion is a mess -- a congeries of vague metaphysics about death and endless deserts and "the world getting back into line," followed by a rhapsodic ending so sappy you can practically hear the music behind the credits. It doesn't feel as if Tiffany has earned her victory, or as if Pratchett is doing justice to his inquisitive young heroine.

Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. Incipient witch Tiffany Aching, who confronted danger in The Wee Free Men (2003), faces even greater peril in this equally quirky sequel. She is taken on as an apprentice witch by Miss Level, who is one person with two bodies--an oddity to say the least. Also, Tiffany is stalked and taken over by a hiver, an invisible, brainless entity that commands and distorts the mind of its host, which eventually dies. Luckily Tiffany is strong enough to hide a section of her mind within herself, but she is otherwise completely under the control of the hiver. It's the cantankerous Wee Free Men (or the Nac Mac Feegle) to the rescue, with the help of Miss Level and the wisest, most respected witch of all. The chase is part slapstick, part terror, and in the end, Tiffany herself sets things straight. Pratchett maintains the momentum of the first book, and fans will relish the further adventures of the "big wee hag," as Tiffany is known to the Feegles. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper Trophy; First Thus edition (June 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060586621
• ISBN-13: 978-0060586621
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #36,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and inspired, July 8, 2004

By	bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: A Hat Full of Sky (Hardcover)

Perhaps a lot of adult fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series have come to take for granted his ability to combine fantasy, riotous humor, and a touch of "why are we here and what are we for?" metaphysics. In "Hat Full of Sky," a sequel to his kids? hit "Wee Free Men," he manages all these plus more from a pre-teen perspective. However, you?ll really want to read the first volume ("Wee Free"), first, or the plot of "Hat" won't make as much sense to you.

In the previous volume, Tiffany Aching, a young independent farmgirl with witch-like powers, overcomes an evil queen to rescue her brother with the help of a clan of drunken, riotous "Pictsies," six-inch kilt-wearing men painted blue and swearing like truckers. In "Hat Full of Sky," Tiffany goes off for formal witch training, only to be taken over by a "hiver," an evil being who stirs up all one's worst urges. Under the hiver's temporary influence, Tiffany becomes a kind of "mean girl," pushy, self-interested, inconsiderate, and obsessed with clothes.

It strikes me as remarkable that Pratchett (a middle-aged man, after all) could get the internal struggle of the pre-teen so exactly right: wanting to be popular and able to satisfy every urge, but with a wee small voice inside, fighting those urges in favor of a better self.

As in "Wee Free Men," the Pictsies are terrifically funny; the best bit is when the Pictsies climb over each other like acrobats and throw on human clothes to disguise themselves (as a single human) for a journey: they confound their fellow-travelers when the stomach complains out loud to the head, and the gloved hands walk off in opposite directions.

Both full- and pint-sized readers will laugh and enjoy this book!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humor, Heart and Nac Mac Feegles!, June 4, 2004

By	Shanshad "shanachie_shadowfax" (Discworld) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: A Hat Full of Sky (Hardcover)

Tiffany Aching, the heroine of WEE FREE MEN is back for a second adventure where she heads off to learn the ways of being a witch. And folks, let me warn you now that Terry Pratchett isn't about to send her off to a mysterious school of magic where you get wands with stars on them and learn how to do spells that go twing. Learning to be a witch on the Discworld is another kind adventure entirely! At its heart, this is a coming of age story for Tiffany, who must face down a deadly threat called a hiver, and come to terms with her own self.

There's plenty of Terry's whimsical humor and wry satire to keep readers smiling and chuckling. Especially when the Nac Mac Feegle make their appearance in the story, of course! These little blue-tattooed Pictsies are delightfully irreverent and contentious, causing havoc and hilarity wherever they go. Along with the humor, however is a good solid dose of heart. I do believe Mr. Pratchett has done an exemplary job of making us care about the characters and creating believable, fallible and lovable. I was surprised at how much I came to care about the Mac Feegles new kelda, Jeanie as she struggles to take on the role she's been born for. Jeanie isn't a main character in the story, but her presence and other little touches like her, fill Pratchett's story with echoes of meaning and magic.

If I have one complaint about this book, it's that it felt too short. Events happened so quickly that before I knew it I was at the last page of the story. I did feel as though there were places where the narrative could have been expanded upon, characters who were not as fully fleshed out as they could have otherwise been. Still, for the younger reader, a shorter read is likely to be appreciated-and Pratchett can pack quite a punch even in a shorter form such as this!

Discworld fans that hungrily scoop up every new book by Terry Pratchett will be delighted to see Granny Weatherwax make a return appearance. This time the most formidable witch on the Discworld stays for more than a cameo role, with delightful results. Readers discovering Pratchett for the first time, you might want to grab WEE FREE MEN and read it first since it first introduces Tiffany Aching, but it isn't necessary to do so. If you enjoy these books please look for Pratchett's other young adult books: THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS, and THE BROMELIAD TRILOGY. If you're looking for more adult fare, please be sure to check out all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. And have fun!

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hat Full of Sky, February 8, 2008

By	Micah J. Bickford - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Hat Full of Sky: The Continuing Adventures of Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men (Mass Market Paperback)

Terry Pratchett is my favorite author.

Most of the authors on my Top 10 list got there on the basis of a few good books; Robin McKinnley's "The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown"; Tolkein's "The Hobbit"; Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarion Trilogy; David Webber's "Mutineer's Moon" Trilogy...

With Pratchett, it's easier to list those of his books that I don't like. There's only one ("Eric!"), and even it has its moments.

I suppose that now I have to explain why I like him so much. The reason is simple. He is wise. He is ALSO funny, which allows him to present his wisdom in a way that is readily accessible.

As a case in point, I am a soldier. I know the nature of my peers. Pratchett's books about CDR Vimes, which I collectively refer to as The Watch Trilogy (although there's now more than three volumes) is a masterpiece of insight into the nature of wearing a uniform. There is nothing at all heroic about CPL Nobbs or SGT Colon, and I've known many individuals very like both of them. Yet, when the time comes, and society needs someone to stand in the gap, they're there. Flaws and all. And beside them are people like CPT Carrot, who is virtue personified. CDR Vimes may not be virtuous, and he'd be horribly offended at being called noble, but he is good. And he does what he does because he loves his people. (I recall the comic scene where he states that the city is a woman, and he loved her even when she kicked him in his teeth.) The armed forces have the same mix of personalities that intermingle with complex interaction. We're not heros. We're people. Pratchett is one of the few authors who understands that enough to write it believably.

But as much as I enjoy Pratchett's Watch Trilogy, I love his Witch Trilogy (also more than three books at this point). Esme Weatherwax is, perhaps, the most complex character that I've yet to see written into any book. She is a woman who is rigidly moral, because she understands that she is very close to being evil. It's by sheer willpower, and never being willing to act immorally, that she remains good. She is grim and dark and terrible... and good. She defined herself at one point as a woman who stands on The Boundary.

Throughout history, there have been people who stand between humanity and those things that threaten it. Soldiers, Firemen, Policemen, Teachers, Authors, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, the Wizards of Unseen University... Many of them ARE grim and dark and terrible, but they're often the most effective; their society is protected from whatever evil those Boundary-Watchers have set out to fight.

And how does this relate to the charming young Tiffany Aching, and Pratchett's books about her, the second of which is "A Hat Full of Sky"? Tiffany Aching is used to contrast Esme Weatherwax. She is not grim, nor dark, nor terrible... Yet.

Tiffany Aching is a Boundary-Watcher. But she is a young and inexperienced one. Given time, she will either grow into another Esme Weatherwax, or she will forsake The Boundary to become a wicked witch. The trilogy of Tiffany Aching is, at its heart, a guide book to the path towards maturity as a Boundary-Watcher. It warns against beginning to cackle. It explains the importance of being accountable to comrades. It lays out the mindset that a Boundary-Watcher must hold. And, it even does so in a believable way. Tiffany Aching DOES have failures of virtue (like the incident in the wand store, or with the old man's money), just like a real person. And the moral that Pratchett draws from those situations is that while certain actions may fall short of virtue, you can still show your worth in the way in which you respond.

I pay to Pratchett the greatest homage that I can with these words:
He understands.

And to make him all the more impressive, the book is written in order to teach without being intimidating. Few non-Boundary-Watchers will pick up Dave Grossman's book "On Combat". Yet many will approach Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, which discusses the same mindset and role in society, because of the expectation and joy of a good story. The story of a plucky young girl pitted against evil forces is certainly entertaining enough in its own right to amuse those who have no desire to explore the mindset of a Boundary-Watcher.

And so, I think I shall end with this observation. There is a Zen quotation that states, "If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are." I understand the fact that whether or not I understand is insignificant to the Great Scheme of Things. Yet what the quotation does not explain is why I still feel a great need to understand, in spite of the insignificance of understanding. For several months, I asked myself the question, "Why do I try to understand then?" I finally came up with an answer: "You laugh at more of the jokes." Humor and understanding go hand-in-hand. Pratchett understands this.