From the Publisher
"A magical journey like nothing you've ever read before. Stunning!"—Chris Abouzeid at Belmont Books
[STAR] “Revelatory.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred)
“With elements of Lipan Apache oral history, fantasy, and mysteries, the captivating novel Sheine Lende follows found and inherited family members as they persevere.” – Foreword (starred)
“Full of incredible magic and mystery.” – Geek Girl Authority
[STAR] “A wonderful addition to the Elatsoe universe with vital representation, worthy of any YA collection. Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal (starred)
“You don’t need to have read Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe to enjoy Sheine Lende, although it helps. This is a great novel to give to tweens and teens who like mysteries and fantasy but either aren’t ready for or aren’t interested in plots with romance or more mature action sequences… Darcie Little Badger is so good at what she does, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next." – Locus
“Inventive.” – Horn Book
“This tender, magical prequel to Elastoe features Shane, the grandmother of Elastoe, as a 17-year-old girl in the 1970s who, like Elatsoe, can also summon ghosts. Shane must use all of her gifts to find her missing mother and a missing child her mother was trying to rescue. Along the way, she must also face monsters real and internal.” – Common Sense Media
“Gritty, luminous… beguiling.” – Shelf-Awareness
“Epic.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
School Library Journal
★ 04/01/2024
Gr 8 Up—This prequel to Elatsoe features Ellie's grandmother Shane, a 17-year-old Lipan Apache, and further expands upon the strange and unique world. Shane and her mother track down missing persons using ghost dogs (familiar to those who've read Elatsoe), even when the families can't pay them. This means Shane is used to barely scraping by, her deep practicality almost at odds with her unique power to raise the dead. When her mother disappears after tangling with a fairy ring, Shane will journey across the south and the world Below to find her. The narrative emphasizes generational trauma and the power of community with flashbacks, finding ways to ground the fantastical worldbuilding elements of vampires, fae, and ghosts in the culture and relationships Shane finds important. Little Badger artfully navigates Shane's family history—from disasters to stolen land—and how they fight to reclaim their identity. While the novel stands alone, common elements from the first book reappear to add humor and tension. Part road trip, part classic quest, this novel manages to add fresh and exciting elements to the worldbuilding while retaining Elatsoe's slightly spooky atmosphere. The flashbacks and changes in point-of-view slightly hinder the pacing, but readers will likely be too invested in Shane's story to care. Shane and her family are Lipan Apache, with additional diversity in the supporting cast. VERDICT A wonderful addition to the Elatsoe universe with vital representation, worthy of any YA collection. Highly recommended.—Emmy Neal
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-01-05
Two generations before the events of Elatsoe (2020), Shane, a 17-year-old Lipan Apache girl, helps her mother, Lorenza, perform volunteer search-and-rescue operations.
Familiar both with tracking to survive in the wilderness and counting change to survive under capitalism, Shane possesses the resourcefulness of an irresistible protagonist. Her practicality also provides the perfect foil for her extraordinary ability—inherited from her four-great-grandmother—to summon dead creatures, adding texture to her supernatural world. What starts out as Lorenza’s quest to locate two missing children becomes Shane’s journey through Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, and the ghostly land Below to find her mother after she disappears. While faeries and vampires inhabit Shane’s surroundings, the heart of her story is her family’s endurance despite various tragedies, including climate devastation and rich settlers’ betrayal and theft. Frequent flashbacks and late-breaking perspective changes add narrative complexity, alongside rich depictions of cultural identity, generational trauma, and community care. A secondary character’s revelatory discovery offers an empowering narrative of reclaiming one’s stolen ancestry. Shane’s protectiveness toward her younger brother, complex love for her inconstant grandfather, and sturdy bond with her mathematically minded best friend add further relationship depth. Bug enthusiasts will also find kindred spirits in Shane and new acquaintance Dr. Richards, an older Black scholar of biology, magic, and comics.
A classic fantasy adventure and a balm for any soul weary of oppression. (note on the title) (Speculative fiction. 12-18)
