A review by library_brandy
Guest: A Changeling Tale by Mary Downing Hahn

4.0

Mollie knew she shouldn't say anything positive about her baby brother, lest the Kinde Folk hear and swap him for one of theirs. She knows that the locket around his neck is meant to protect him. But it won't hurt to wear the pretty necklace herself, just for a few minutes? He's such a good baby!

The changeling child--whom they call Guest, since he's NOT staying--is a hellion. Mollie's dad left and her mom is a mess, trying to care for this hated creature and distraught over her own boy. It's up to Mollie to go to the Kinde Folk and retrieve her real brother, but the queen won't give him up easily.

This is a different kind of story from what Hahn usually writes, and I think the story is stronger for it--the ideas and the writing sound fresher than they have in her other recent books.

ARC from publisher at ALA. Thanks!