What character(s) in this book would you most and least like to be friends with, and why?
I would most likely be friends with Elena and Cat. Elena is a poor girl with a dead father an ill mother, two brothers living in a small shack and they're are running out food. Cat is a rich girl with a very privileged life. An only child with parents who nursed bottles of liquor instead of her, Cat goes to school in London until her great aunt Madame Sophia calls her out of school to be presented to the Tsar's godson as a future wife. The train to saint Petersburg is suddenly stopped due to problems with the train and while the servants are fixing the train Cat meets Elena. Elena becomes fascinated by Cat very quickly, amazed that she read and speak French and has a abundance of food while Elena's entire village is starving. the rest goes fast from there. there is a mix up Elena is on her way to Saint Petersberg and Cat is stranded in Miesrk. Cat tries to get back with her great aunt and along the way meets baba yaga, fights an ice dragon rides in Dumb Doma, baba yaga's house and meets a feisty kitten named Mewster, While Elena goes from a poor village to a rich life to a cold cell in the Tsar's dungeon complete with a family of rats. A good book to read if you like fantasy and/or Gregory Maguire.
--Mariela, 6th grade, Cambridge Street
