More great reads: the best books for 9 year olds
"This charming, thought-provoking heroes and villains adventure is shot-through with a potent message about the need for kindness and community"
April 2022 Book of the Month
Generosity over greed, kindness over cruelty, unity over division, and the power of books, Kelly Barnhill’s The Ogress and the Orphans is an exceptional allegorical adventure, with its guileful, all-knowing narrative voice (readers are instructed to “Listen”) and sparkling characters casting a captivating spell.
“Once upon a time, when it was a lovely town”, Stone-in-the-Glen used to glow with trust and kindness between neighbours, but not anymore. “It was said that the Library housed the heart of the town. And the mind of the town”, and so everything changed the day it burned down. Now the townsfolk have put their faith in the Mayor (apparently a dragon slayer), and lost their former munificence.
And the only inhabitants aware of this cruel shift are the fifteen children of Orphan House, who were “studious and hard-working and kind. And they loved one another dearly, ever so much more than they loved themselves”.
When one of the orphans goes missing, the town turns on the Ogress, who is, in fact, also “hardworking and kind and generous. She also loved others more than she loved herself”. Indeed, the calm kindness and generosity of the Ogress sits in stark contrast to the suave, sweet-talking, self-serving Mayor, an exquisitely-crafted villain who might just bring a few politicians to mind, with the prejudicial scapegoating of the Ogress also striking a powerful chord.
It falls to the orphans to expose the true villain of the piece, to change opinions of the Ogress, and to restore goodness to their town.
Alongside the thrilling, enchanting quest and message of kindness, the author shares messages about the power of books: “The ideas and knowledge contained inside their pages have mass and velocity and gravity. They bend both space and time. They have minds of their own. There is a power in a book that surpasses even that of a dragon”. What a wondrous, timely triumph — I adored every perfectly-placed word.
A new fantasy classic from the Newbery Medal winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Drank The Moon.
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the best books for 9-12 year olds · the best books for teenagers
A new fantasy classic from the Newbery Medal winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Drank The Moon. Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Ogress and the Orphans and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The Ogress and the Orphans features in the following genres: Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Interviews with Authors and Illustrators, Crime & Mystery, Fantasy / Magical, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Star Books, Featured Books for 9+ readers
Paperback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Ogress and the Orphans was written by Kelly Barnhill and published by Piccadilly Press an imprint of Templar Publishing
The Ogress and the Orphans has 390 pages
Yes it is part of Shockwave series
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
