Publishers Weekly
08/22/2022
An indoor cat with an urgent mission and an adventure-loving wild fox team up in this full-hearted, earnestly voiced quest. Finding the home of elderly Ma Millie as a kitten was “Haven’s rescue from loneliness, fear, and the cold, unfriendly forest,” and the key to her comfortable, “strictly indoor” life. When Ma Millie becomes deathly ill and a strong wind knocks out the phone line, however, Haven realizes that though she’s small and the forest is large and unknown, it is up to her to find help. A third-person narrative alternates between Haven, a solitary nameless fox who agrees to be her woodland guide, and the hungry bobcat hot on their tails. On the days-long journey to find Ma Millie’s trusted neighbor and outrun the bobcat, the fox shows Haven how to hunt and be “quick and decisive,” and Haven—whose confidence grows as her world widens—teaches the fox that life can be about warmth, camaraderie, and learning to not merely survive but thrive. Wagner Lloyd (Allergic) writes a simply plotted, character-driven, nature-grounded adventure for fans of Pax and the Warriors series. Human characters are racially ambiguous. Ages 8–12. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
An indoor cat with an urgent mission and an adventure-loving wild fox team up in this full-hearted, earnestly voiced quest. . . . Wagner Lloyd (Allergic) writes a simply plotted, character-driven, nature-grounded adventure for fans of Pax and the Warriors series.
—Publishers Weekly
A sweet, sincere tale of self-discovery.
—Kirkus Reviews
An immediately absorbing drama. . . Evocative descriptions of cozy cottages and the vast wilderness are terrifically transporting, and the ever-present bobcat danger will keep readers turning pages. . . a proper adventure story that proves that the biggest, bravest hearts can reside in the smallest bodies.
—Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
2022-04-13
"You don't have to be big to be brave."
Haven is perfectly comfortable being a "strictly indoor cat." She loves the warmth and the smell of treats and baking bread. Most of all, she loves her human, Ma Millie. Ma Millie, who saved her from the cold and lonely forest when she was just a kitten. Ma Millie, who will take care of Haven forever. Ma Millie, who grows so sick that she can take care of her no longer. To save her owner, Haven will do anything—even brave the shadows of the forest to find help. Along the way, she meets new allies, including a cunning fox, and faces dangers unlike any she could have imagined from the safety of home. Lloyd's tale of a pet cat learning to survive in the wild hearkens back to the original Warrior Cats series; punctuated with action scenes, however, Haven's story is ultimately one of friendship and finding oneself through others. Haven's journey progresses at an unhurried, unflagging pace. Simple prose evokes a sense of tenderness, although the narrative takes some time to settle into itself emotionally, occasionally coming off as detached. But the primal energy of the climactic fight and the final chapters' heart-rending subversion of the death narrative typical of animal stories more than make up for the first half's meandering. Ma Millie’s race and ethnicity are not specified.
A sweet, sincere tale of self-discovery. (Fiction. 8-12)
