Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighborliness. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are.
Then one day a child goes missing from the Orphan House. At the Mayor’s suggestion, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The Orphans know this can’t be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen.
But how can the Orphans tell the story of the Ogress’s goodness to people who refuse to listen? And how can they make their deluded neighbors see the real villain in their midst? (taken from Amazon)
Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers for allowing me to join in on this book tour and for providing me with The Ogress and the Orphans in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available for purchase now.
Sometimes you read a book and think, “Oh, what an entertaining and fun book!”
Sometimes you think, “This is an important book, a book that says something.”
And sometimes you read a book that is both. The Ogress and the Orphans is a well-written adventure, with children that speak to crows and a generous ogress. It is also a dangerous book, with wicked dragons and fear stoked into hatred. It is the sort of book that draws you in and makes you think. It teaches a lesson without beating the reader over the head with it (as a homeschool parent, I love children’s books like that).
The Ogress and the Orphans follows a house full of orphans in a town that used to be kind and helpful but became selfish and afraid after everything burned down (starting with the library. Hmmm…could it be that the freedom to read is important?), leaving suspicious neighbors who only trust their mayor, who has slain a dragon after all. He never seems to do anything to help, but in the town’s eyes he can do no wrong.
Meanwhile, in the Orphan House, there may not be enough to eat, and the caretakers are world-weary, but there is kindness aplenty. I loved all of the characters in the house! There are so many of them, but my favorites were Bartleby and Cass. Bartleby could hear the stories that the walls and trees tell, stories of both the past and the future. And sweet, kind Cass sets things in motion when an attempt to care for others goes in unexpected directions.
I loved the narrator, who gave small asides about the things it could say if anyone asked (but they didn’t). The entire book was wonderful and uplifting, something that is always appreciated. The Ogress and the Orphans is full of both adventure and heart. Pick it up. You’ll love it.
Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub 
I really liked The Girl Who Drank the Moon! I’ll have to get this one. I can manage reading MG or so books 🤣
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I need to read The Girl Who Drank the Moon. The Ogress and the Orphans was my first book by this author m
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What a unique-sounding story! I’m glad you ended up enjoying it! The cover is interesting, too…to me it’s reminiscent of the book cover of The BFG by Roald Dahl, as I dig up my hazy childhood memories. 😀
-A Literary Escape
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I thought the same thing about the cover!
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I’m reading this book right now, and I’m loving it. And, it’s the selection for this month’s YA Book Club at my job!
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I love that!!!! I’m glad you’re enjoying it as much as I did. I can’t wait to read your review on it.
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