Reviews

What an incredible story! Its themes and morals feel ever more relevant with each passing day, and I loved watching the children come together to unify their town. Beautiful prose, though definitely slower paced at times. I loved the found family within the orphanage, the wholesome, sweet heart of the ogress, and listening to this via audio was a great experience.

pigsandbooks's review

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4.0

3.5 stars.

nerdy_book_mom's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

littlewit's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I really liked the story, it just took me a while to get through the book for some reason.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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5.0

Middle grades are usually wonderful adventures for the young reader. Adventures through strange worlds to make friends with strange characters and to come back another person. But sometimes middle grades are not JUST adventures. Sometimes they have this deeper layer, this life lesson, this mirror showing us the world as it is and as it can be. Barnhill writes middle grades with those mirrors, life lessons and deeper layers. It's one of the reason I love them most.

I have to admit that I needed some time to really get into this book. The author introduces a lot of characters to us and it takes a while before we're starting to see the bigger picture and the connections between all these characters. But all the build up and all the characters and all the getting to know is so worth it when in the end everything comes together and the book gets a happy and satisfying ending (for now).

The message of the book is of course kinda cliche. But the way Barnhill shows us the message makes the difference. I also like how she tells children that good and wicked are not two opposites. Good people can do wicked things, pushed by others or the circumstances, and bad people can do good things when it works for them. A lot of humans only need one person telling them how to act to act a certain way. It's important to find the right person to lead us.

And in that way this story mirrors the real world in loads of ways. Once we get to see the mayor in action it's easy to recognize the populist rhetoric. It's also easy to see where the rhetoric leads and what we lose along the way. I also loved how Barnhill shows us the power of stories and books. Once books touch us they can teach us valuable lessons. Even if those books are fiction and even if the books make us sad.

I can't wait to dive into the next Barnhill middle grade!