The Ogress and the Orphans

Hello Friend,

Here’s another book review for you.

This book simultaneously cracks me up…and makes me worry.

The Ogress and the Orphans by acclaimed children’s novelist Kelly Barnhill parallels some of our country’s recent events.

Publisher’s Weekly calls the book “…an ambitious fantastical sociopolitical allegory.”

But kids aged 9-12 will just call it a really entertaining story.

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A vain, self-serving dragon insinuates himself into government, and then a once-lovely village falls into ruin.

The Ogress and the Orphans is the story about Stone-in-the-Glen—once a loving and charming place to live—and its inhabitants, who are mesmerized by a glittery dragon-turned-man who convinces them that he alone will make their village great again.

They don’t know that he harbors secrets or that behind all the razzle-dazzle he’s just a selfish lout.

All they know is that he assures them he will make their lives better and fix up their village which has (suspiciously) suffered fire damage, water damage and other traumas.

Besides that, neighbors have turned against neighbors until their village has become a sad, depressing, less-than-lovely place to live.

This dragon-mayor proclaims to be their salvation, all while doing absolutely nothing but making the village worse.

But the villagers are so mesmerized by the flashy mayor, they don’t see him for what he is.

The orphans, however, are clever children.

They are also hungry.

A long time ago, before the mayor arrived, they were cared for supplementally by the villagers.

Now they’re left on their own to supply all their needs with no help from anyone.

That is, until an ogress arrives in town.

While the villagers don’t accept the ogress, the children feel differently.

When she begins providing fruits and vegetables and treats to not just the orphans but to all the villagers, the children understand how important it is to take care of their neighbors.

They also see how far their village has fallen.

Now, though, the villagers want to get rid of the ogress because the mayor tells them that she and her kind are the cause of all their problems.

Find out who prevails in this book for middle-grade readers and adults too.

And here are the pearls I found in this novel:

“The more she gave, the more she seemed to have. It was the best sort of magic.” (page 17, Kindle version)

“Just think if everyone decided to do good. Just think if everyone decided to do so every day.

Or, if not everyone, what if some did, and it still expanded?

This was a whole new kind of arithmetic. How long would it take for those good deeds to compound?” (page 243, Kindle version)

Kelly Barnhill is also the author of Newbery Medal winner The Girl Who Drank the Moon, as well as The Witch’s Boy, Iron-Hearted Violet, and The Mostly True Story of Jack.

Go find your own pearls. (And if you’re feeling brave, share them with me in the comments.)