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A review by rockythefreak
Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
A wonderful read for kids and their parents, particularly for families experiencing grief and change. As a white reader I cannot say this with certainty, but I think children of color will benefit from the contents in this book, especially black children.
While the book was cliche and predictable, I think that's okay. It's purpose isn't to be groundbreaking and new, it's purpose is to serve young readers. I know that if I had found this book as a young queer child discovering my identity and dealing with my first loss, the book would have been so important to little me.
The worldbuilding was fun and refreshing, but a bit black and white. The characters who were percieved as good ARE good, and the characters portrayed as evil ARE evil. I think that even though it's a book for children, it could benefit from more nuance. After all, children are nuanced themselves.
While the book was cliche and predictable, I think that's okay. It's purpose isn't to be groundbreaking and new, it's purpose is to serve young readers. I know that if I had found this book as a young queer child discovering my identity and dealing with my first loss, the book would have been so important to little me.
The worldbuilding was fun and refreshing, but a bit black and white. The characters who were percieved as good ARE good, and the characters portrayed as evil ARE evil. I think that even though it's a book for children, it could benefit from more nuance. After all, children are nuanced themselves.
Graphic: Child death and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying and Racism
In regards to parent death: The death of Artie's father is described to her by the villains of the story to taunt her, and used as a parallel to her situation when she is in danger. There are serious attempts to kill the main character, who is no older than 14.