**Starred Review** Kirkus
**National Book Award**
In the town of Zombay, lives a witch named Graba. She has
clockwork chicken legs and can transport her house wherever she wants.
Graba takes in stray children, and Rownie is the youngest boy in her
household. Rownie’s only real relative is his older brother Rowan, who
is an actor. But acting is outlawed in Zombay, and Rowan has
disappeared.
Desperate to find him, Rownie joins up with a troupe of goblins
who skirt the law to put on plays. But their plays are not only for
entertainment, and the masks they use are for more than make-believe.
The goblins also want to find Rowan—because Rowan might be the only
person who can save the town from being flooded by a mighty river.
Word Count: 44,957
Page Count: 256
Accelerated Reading level: 4.9 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 150923
Lexile: 710L
--sample pages available
Kaile lives in Zombay, an astonishing city where goblins walk the
streets and witches work their charms and curses. Kaile wants to be a
musician and is delighted when a goblin gives her a flute carved out of
bone. But the flute’s single, mournful song has a dangerous consequence:
It separates Kaile and her shadow. Anyone without a shadow is
considered dead, and despite Kaile’s protests that she’s alive and
breathing, her family forces her to leave so she can’t haunt their home.
Kaile
and her shadow soon learn that the troublesome flute is tied to a
terrifying ghoul made from the bones of those who drowned in the Zombay
River. With the ghoul chasing her and the river threatening to flood,
Kaile has an important role to play in keeping Zombay safe. Will Kaile
and her shadow be able to learn the right tune in time?
- Page Count: 176 pages
