The Seventh Raven

by David Elliott Narrated by Tessa Netting, Maxwell Hamilton, Moira Quirk, Matt Wolf

Overview

Best-selling author David Elliott examines the timeless themes of balance, transformation, and restoration in this evocative tale about a girl who will stop at nothing to reverse a curse that turned her seven brothers into ravens.

And these are the sons
Of good Jack and good Jane
The eldest is Jack
And the next one is Jack
And the third one's called Jack
And the fourth's known as Jack
And the fifth says he's Jack
And they call the sixth Jack
But the seventh's not Jack
The seventh is Robyn

And this is his story

When Robyn and his brothers are turned into ravens through the work of an unlucky curse, a sister is their only hope to become human again. Though she's never met her brothers, April will stop at nothing to restore their humanity. But what about Robyn, who always felt a greater affinity to the air than to the earth-bound lives of his family?

David Elliott's latest novel in verse explores the unintended consequences of our actions, no matter our intentions, and is filled with powerful messages teased from a Grimms' fairy tale. Stunning black-and-white illustrations throughout by Rovina Cai.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile

A father’s foolish words—meant to save his dying infant daughter—inadvertently curse his seven older sons to live the remainder of their days as crows. While the plot of this YA novel seems promising, it’s also a case study in tempered expectations: This is not a traditional narrative as much as it is a series of perspectives— the father’s, the mother’s, the daughter’s, and the sons’—told in various poetic forms. Knowing that while heading in will allow listeners to grant artistic license to the voice actors, who appear to have been directed to embody their respective roles in the manner of a live theater performance, an interesting departure for an audiobook. If you’re looking for something unexpected, this might be for you. G.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 01/25/2021

Rich with evocative language (to “bake the coarse bread/ And spin the fine thread/ And weave the rough cloth”), this subtle verse novel retells the Grimms’ “The Seven Ravens” through a lens of perseverance and change. Though all his parents want is a daughter, “girlish” misfit Robyn lives a stifling life as the youngest of a temperamental woodsman’s seven competitive sons. When their sister, April, is born “dying and thin,” their father angrily curses all seven to become ravens; Robyn discovers a love of flight while the others experience only torment. Fifteen years later, upon discovering her brothers’ smocks, April sets out with a carved harp to find them and loose the spell, a quest that will require a horrible sacrifice from the book’s femme characters. Elliott (Voices) makes the propulsive mix of formal and concrete poetry and blank verse sparklingly accessible for teen readers, with repetitions and Cai’s (Elatsoe) inky illustrations weaving multiple narrators into a beautifully unified volume. Fans of lyrical retellings such as Malinda Lo’s Ash will find this bittersweet quest a warm welcome into myth and verse. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 14–up. Author’s agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. (Mar.)■

From the Publisher

★"Rich with evocative language.... Elliott (Voices) makes the propulsive mix of formal and concrete poetry and blank verse sparklingly accessible for teen readers, with repetitions and Cai’s (Elatsoe) inky illustrations weaving multiple narrators into a beautifully unified volume. Fans of lyrical retellings such as Malinda Lo’s Ash will find this bittersweet quest a warm welcome into myth and verse." –Publishers Weekly, STARRED review ★"Elliott brings emotional depth and poignant verse to the Grimms’ 'The Seven Ravens.' This beautifully evocative tale weaves different poetry forms to great effect, achieving short, intense bursts of emotion and deep, wandering musings on identity and fate. Cai’s haunting illustrations add context and visual interest to many of the poems. Although the setting and events may belong in a fairy-tale, the core emotions of this work draw straight from reality." –School Library Journal, STARRED review "Elliott once again is a master at poetic form....Within the elegant construction is a simple story of best intentions that reap terrible consequences and a look at how we believe our wishes for others come from a place of altruism when it is more often selfishness." –The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Elliott’s poetry is by nature taut with intensity, an effect he achieves in part through his skill with verbal rhythms, rhyme, and formal poetic structures; in part through his gimlet-eyed focus on human passion, expressed through multiple voices. He brings all this to his verse-novel interpretation of the Grimms’ tale 'The Seven Ravens,' with poetry so propulsive that it seems to cry out for oral performance." –The Horn Book Magazine "A skillful use of verse; moral conundrums and strange plot twists offer even stronger draws." –Kirkus —

School Library Journal

★ 02/01/2021

Gr 6 Up—In an isolated, idyllic forest, Jack and his wife, Jane, live and work in a small cottage. They have seven sons, six of whom are strapping young lads with the same name as their father. The seventh son, Robyn, however, is too quiet, creative, and different to fit in with the family. Each night, Jack and his wife pray for a daughter, and one fateful day, their prayers are answered. Tragically, the girl is born gray and still, and in desperate pain and anger over his loss, Jack curses his sons, calling them no better than carrion birds—ravens. In a burst of magic, the boys transform on the spot, and Jack's daughter is brought to immediate, pink health. Although the six young Jacks are miserable in their new avian lives, Robyn finds freedom in flight. As their sister, April, grows up under a pall of smothered tragedy, she soon resolves to find her brothers and bring them home, but will Robyn ever wish to return? Elliott brings emotional depth and poignant verse to the Grimms' "The Seven Ravens." This beautifully evocative tale weaves different poetry forms to great effect, achieving short, intense bursts of emotion and deep, wandering musings on identity and fate. Cai's haunting illustrations add context and visual interest to many of the poems. Although the setting and events may belong in a fairy-tale, the core emotions of this work draw straight from reality. VERDICT A stirring selection for any fantasy collection, this book will appeal to fans of Emily Carroll and Phillip Pullman.—Catherine Cote, John Champe H.S., Aldie, VA

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile

A father’s foolish words—meant to save his dying infant daughter—inadvertently curse his seven older sons to live the remainder of their days as crows. While the plot of this YA novel seems promising, it’s also a case study in tempered expectations: This is not a traditional narrative as much as it is a series of perspectives— the father’s, the mother’s, the daughter’s, and the sons’—told in various poetic forms. Knowing that while heading in will allow listeners to grant artistic license to the voice actors, who appear to have been directed to embody their respective roles in the manner of a live theater performance, an interesting departure for an audiobook. If you’re looking for something unexpected, this might be for you. G.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2021-01-26
A teenager sets out to rescue her cursed older brothers in this verse retelling of the Grimms’ “The Seven Ravens.”

Upon learning at last that her brothers—all named Jack except the youngest, Robyn—had been transformed into birds at her birth by her father in a fit of pique, 15-year-old April resolutely undertakes what becomes a weary search for them. In the most notable wrinkle that Elliott adds to the original, Robyn, who had always felt like the odd one out anyway, quite enjoys being a raven, and when April climactically makes an extreme sacrifice to free her brothers, he is left separate from the others once again. Occasional white-on-black pages and Cai’s infrequent but brooding images of feathery swirls and distant turned-away silhouettes add further atmosphere to the sometimes-incantatory poetry. Following his practice in Bull (2017) and Voices (2019), the author employs multiple narrators, experiments with different verse models or set forms for each poem, and closes with analytical notes on the latter. April’s heroic sacrifices in the name of family ties are admirable, and the fact that they turn out not to be entirely appreciated offers chewy food for thought.

A skillful use of verse; moral conundrums and strange plot twists offer even stronger draws. (Verse fantasy. 12-15)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175806688
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Robyn

They called me Robyn. How did they know from the very start
that the murmuring beat of my infant heart
would not conform to the rhythms of my brothers’?
One no different from the other,
and insensible to the smart

sting of thorns on the rocky ground. Each of us, it seems, has his part
to play; theirs is earthbound, like our father’s, their feet planted in the dirt.
But I love the sky, its incandescence, its infinity, its colors.
And they called me Robyn.

The naming of children is a fine and subtle art.
Parents must consider everything the name imparts.
Was it merely accident or the instinct of a mother
that mine hints at altitude and air, flight and feather?
Whether luck or Fate—Fortune’s sly, unyielding counterpart—
they called me Robyn.

AND here is the man
Who lives in the cottage
That’s built near the river
That runs through the forest
He calls himself Jack

And here is Jack’s axe
With its bright-sharpened tongue
And its bright-sharpened will
And its head-banging anger
Its terrible temper
Its loathing of rest

And this is Jack’s saw
With its sharp crooked teeth
And its lunatic grin
And its sickening song
And insatiable greed
And its obsessive need

      To go forth
and come back
      To go forth
and come back
      To go forth
and come back
      To go forth
and come back

AND day after day after day after day
Jack swings the sharp axe
And pulls the sharp saw
And curls the tongues
And tramples the eyes
And deafens the ears
And brings the trees down
He wants to know why
He has seven sons
When night after night after night after night
He falls on his knees
And clasps the scarred hands
That hold the dark beads
And bows the big head
That holds the dark eyes
And shuts out the noise
Of his sons in their sleep

And prays for a daughter