Kirkus Starred Review

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Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

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A Kirkus Best Middlegrade of 2023

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A Chicago Public Library Best Middlegrade of 2023

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Kirkus Starred Review 〰️ Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review 〰️ A Kirkus Best Middlegrade of 2023 〰️ A Chicago Public Library Best Middlegrade of 2023 〰️

THE MOSSHEART’S PROMISE

From New York Times bestselling YA author Rebecca Mix comes the first book in a breathtaking middle grade fantasy duology about a young fairy who has always lived in her heroic grandmother’s shadow but now must step up and embark on a quest to save her mother from the ever-creeping mold overtaking their world.

The mold takes all.

Twelve-year-old fairy Canary Mossheart knows this better than most. A few years ago, the mold took her papa, and even her famous, former-chosen-one Gran never found a cure. So when Ary's beloved mama falls ill, Ary decides it’s taken enough. Armed with only a bucket and a prayer, she sneaks out to find a magical, underground lake whose healing waters are straight out of Gran’s adventures. 

But when Ary gets there, the lake’s bone dry, and instead of healing waters, she finds a terrifying secret: Her entire world is actually trapped inside a giant terrarium—one they were meant to leave centuries ago. Worse, Gran knew and hid the truth, dooming Ary and her generation to a dying, rotting world.

Now, allied with only her doomsday-obsessed frenemy, a timid pill bug, and a particularly grumpy newt, Ary has one week to unravel the clues and find a way out of the terrarium—or they’ll be trapped for good. 

Perfect for readers who loved Brandon Mull's Fablehaven, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, and Endling: The Last by Katherine Applegate.

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Praise for The Mossheart’s Promise:

Mix’s straightforward, magic-laced writing doesn’t shy away from hard but age-appropriately addressed truths of poverty, privilege, and natural disasters… A wonderful story for all the scared people doing the right thing because nobody else will. - Kirkus, 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. - Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review