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. -- Joanne Owen - Love Reading 4 Kids

Kelly Barnhill lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children. She is the author of four novels, most recently The Girl Who Drank the Moon, winner of the New bery Medal. The Witch's Boy received four starred reviews and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards.