73 pages • 2 hours read
John ConnollyThe Book of Lost Things
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Of Bridges and Riddles, and the Many Unappealing Characteristics of Trolls”
The Woodsman spots a raven acting as a scout for the wolves, and he kills it with his bow. As night approaches, David and the Woodsman reach a chasm, and David notices harpies— winged creatures from Greek mythology—flying in the canyon, snatching and eating anything that falls into the canyon. David and the Woodsman come to the only way across the chasm: two bridges guarded by trolls. Based on a riddle from the trolls, David quickly realizes that only one bridge will provide safe passage across the chasm, while the other will lead to their deaths. The riddle from the trolls sounds familiar to David, and after a few moments, he remembers the proper question to ask to evaluate which bridge is safe. Just as they begin to cross the bridge, the wolves appear behind them. David crosses the bridge and must cut the ropes to avoid being pursued by the wolves. The Woodsman stays behind to guard the bridge entrance, and the wolves drag him into the forest.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Of Dwarfs and Their Sometimes Irascible Nature”
David dries his tears over the Woodsman’s death and knows he must continue walking to distance himself from the wolves. He meets a group of seven dwarves who are humorously outspoken about their communist political beliefs and rights as dwarves. Although they seem eager to pick a fight with David at first, they quickly accept him as a friend and bring him back to their cottage for the night. On the way, they tell David about Snow White, who lives with them. The dwarves poisoned her with an apple and blamed it on her wicked stepmother, but it turned out the stepmother had an alibi. When the prince came and woke Snow White from her poisoned sleep with a kiss, the dwarves went to trial and were told that if anything ever happened to Snow White again, they would be found guilty.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Of Snow White, Who is Very Unpleasant Indeed”
At the dwarves’ house, David meets Snow White. She is overweight, wears way too much makeup, and is constantly hungry. She orders the dwarves to serve her and eats almost all the food, leaving them only a little. The dwarves have to put up with her disagreeable and bossy nature because of the ruling in their trial, and Snow White takes advantage of them. That night, as David falls asleep, he thinks of his mother and asks for her guidance. He has a dream as he sleeps that the Crooked Man is in his house again, looking down at Georgie.
Chapters 12-14 Analysis
Connolly continues to use fairytales and stories as a theme that furthers the storyline and contributes to the reader’s understanding of the world David has entered. In these chapters, David encounters several classic fairytale characters, but each has a twist that deviates from the traditional story. For example, he meets Snow White and the seven dwarves, but instead of the wicked stepmother poisoning Snow White, the dwarves admit that they poisoned her. Furthermore, the dwarves tell David about Goldilocks and the three bears and share that in this world, the bears ate Goldilocks. Both of these examples further David’s realization that he is part of a story that someone has created and this world is made up of characters from fairytale stories, each with a unique twist. David’s knowledge of stories comes in handy when he recognizes the troll’s riddle and uses his memory of a story to successfully solve the riddle and cross the bridge. Connolly’s use of fairytales constructs a unique world in which things are partially familiar, yet partially unexpected. He appeals to the reader’s knowledge of classic fairytale stories while offering a fresh angle of those stories to engage the reader.
One particularly entertaining deviation from a classic fairytale is Connolly’s description of Snow White and the seven dwarves. He provides comic relief with the dialogue and descriptions of the political activist dwarves and their attempted poisoning of Snow White. For example, the dwarves humorously describe the prince who wakes Snow White from her sleeping state as a, “pervert” for “gadding about randomly kissing strange women” (127-8). Furthermore, Connolly characterizes Snow White as a gluttonous giant who wears too much makeup and tyrannizes the dwarves, which provides humorous contrast to the typical characterization of Snow White as a sweet, beautiful, and demure young woman. Connolly’s choice to alter the roles in the fairytale, making Snow White the villain and the dwarves the victims, provides comic relief in the midst of David’s intense situation fleeing the wolves and losing the Woodsman.
Connolly also highlights David’s maturity process in these chapters, showing his struggle between childhood and adulthood. For example, when David and the Woodsman reach the bridge, it’s up to David to solve the riddle, a challenge which he accepts and overcomes. Once he crosses the bridge and the Woodsman instructs him to cut the ropes, David cries. His tears here and elsewhere in the novel show that he is still a child. However, despite his fear and sadness over losing the Woodsman, he successfully cuts the ropes. Connolly shows David’s struggle between man and boy by contrasting his tendency to cry with his decisions to take action. Although part of David remains a child, another part begins to become a man.
