Publishers Weekly
★ 07/24/2023
Like all fairies of Terra—the terrarium where the Gardener once placed fairies for safety—12-year-old Canary “Ary” Mossheart grew up hearing the legend of her heroic grandmother saving the town from plague 50 years earlier. Now, though, food has become scarce, and her grandmother can save the residents from neither growing darkness nor creeping rot. To help keep the decaying community alive, Ary scrapes mold and, like other fairies, prepares to sacrifice her wings, which will be ground into a magical dust that helps the community. When her beloved mother is struck with the deadly mold, usually timid Ary sets out to find a cure, accompanied by irritating, wingless Owl, who believes Terra is dying, and a taciturn pill bug named Shrimp. As Ary makes her way underground, she discovers cracks in everything she thought she knew about Terra—and her Gran. Boasting rich, confident worldbuilding and complex interspecies relations in a starkly rendered setting, this stirring middle grade debut from Mix (The Ones We Burn) passionately explores the courage it takes to lead with empathy and to become a hero in the face of older generations’ failures. Characters are described as having various skin tones. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"An exciting, honest, and hopeful tale that speaks gently and clearly to kids’ fears and needs. It urges them to value their own experiences, reassures them that it’s OK to be angry when they’re left to pay for the mistakes of adults, and reminds them that kindness must guide us, even when we’re afraid. A wonderful story for all the scared people doing the right thing because nobody else will." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Boasting rich, confident worldbuilding and complex interspecies relations in a starkly rendered setting, this stirring middle grade debut from Mix (The Ones We Burn) passionately explores the courage it takes to lead with empathy and to become a hero in the face of older generations’ failures.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A tender, touching, and thrilling exploration of how we can save the future by challenging the past.” — Sofiya Pasternack, Sydney Taylor Honor Award-Winning author of Black Bird, Blue Road
"In this immersive middle grade fantasy debut, Rebecca Mix crafts a larger-than-life cast of ordinary heroes who grasp hope in the unlikeliest of times and places. A thought-provoking and unflinching reckoning of what it means to be the 'Chosen One' in a thankless, dying world — where yet, still, love burns bright." — Katie Zhao, author of the Winnie Zeng series and The Dragon Warrior duology
School Library Journal
11/01/2023
Gr 5 Up—Twelve-year-old Ary Mossheart lives life like any fairy, but when her mother starts to get sick from mold, she must find a cure for her. She goes on a journey of self-discovery and understands that the past has played a big hand in events she's had to face. With the help of some friends and her courage, she undertakes an impossible task of finding a new path for her and her people, leading with empathy and strength. This coming-of-age story, perfect for middle graders, shows how kids have to live with the mistakes of previous generations. Ary learns to take a stand for change, even if that means others will not follow. VERDICT Flowing with imaginative characters against the odds of natural disasters, privileges, and past generational mistakes, this book will show young readers how empathy for others can make strong positive changes.—BreAnn Weeks
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-06-21
Canary “Ary” Mossheart’s no hero, but if adults won’t save Mama from the mold that’s killing her, she’ll have to try anyway.
Ary, a 12-year-old mold-scraper, lives in Terra—a terrarium world designed by the gardener to be a haven for fairies. She should get her wings any day now; they’ll be ground into magic dust to beat back the mold that is rotting Terra’s food, poisoning the water, and sickening and starving everyone except the privileged. Everyone expects Ary to be a hero like her legendary Gran, who journeyed to the Underground to bring back the cure for a plague, but all she wants is to help Mama. Ary braves the Gloom beyond the fence, where she makes unexpected friends and learns that Terra is built on multiple lies. If, before week’s end, a Mossheart doesn’t give their life to release the fairies from Terra, their world will die. Mix’s straightforward, magic-laced writing doesn’t shy away from hard but age-appropriately addressed truths of poverty, privilege, and natural disasters. Through tears and laughter, readers will easily follow this exciting, honest, and hopeful tale that speaks gently and clearly to kids’ fears and needs. It urges them to value their own experiences, reassures them that it’s OK to be angry when they’re left to pay for the mistakes of adults, and reminds them that kindness must guide us, even when we’re afraid.
A wonderful story for all the scared people doing the right thing because nobody else will. (Fantasy. 9-13)
