Title The Ogress and the Orphans
Author Kelly Barnhill
Age Recommendation 10-13
Published by Harper Collins
“Books flew out the melting windows like panicked birds, their wings bright and phosphorescent. They were beautiful for a moment, the town remembers, the way a heart is beautiful in the moment before it breaks.”
Find It On:
This is a story about an Ogress, and a story about orphans, and a small town, and none of them are what you may think they might be.
For Ogresses are not often known for their generosity, and orphans aren’t as uncared as stories lead you to think, towns…sometimes towns seem to care for their community, but sometimes that’s all for show.
A hot wind blew in the night the library burned down. The small town of Stone-in-the-Glen has never recovered, but they are putting their faith in the town’s mayor. He shines bright, almost too bright, and he has a way of forgetting what’s important and making people forget what is important.
Hope spreads through the town despite the burned-down library and even with the townspeople’s suspicions of each other. Pies are delivered, bread, and generous, very generous baskets of food to the orphans where kids live.
The orphanage is busy and has worries, babies, and a very mysterious library. The curious and kind children that live there help it run and help take care of each other.
One night one of the children at the orphanage goes missing but is returned by crows. The townspeople are scared and mad, and they blame the ogress that they banished who lives just on the outside of the town.
The children have learned something through their mysterious library and the orphan’s disappearance. Now they have a quest they fear no one will understand.
This book is magic from start to finish, with ogress, dragon, and libraries- one can only expect a grand adventure. It is also about generosity, chosen family, and the power of love.
This one will leave you feeling cozy!
