The Whispering Wars
by Jaclyn Moriarty
Intermediate    Levine/Scholastic    408 pp.    g
10/19    978-1-338-25587-4    $18.99
e-book ed.  978-1-338-25588-1    $11.99

Moriarty returns to the magical universe of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) in this companion novel. The town of Spindrift, in the Kingdom of Storms, is under siege as nefarious actors from the neighboring Whispering Kingdom begin kidnapping children and waging war via mind control. Seven children, from Spindrift’s impoverished orphanage school and snooty boarding school, join forces to foil the Whisperers, aided by mysterious visitors from the future (whom readers of the first book will recognize). Orphan Finlay and boarder Honey Bee take turns narrating; their very distinct (and often humorous) voices and sympathetic personalities are the novel’s strength, and readers will be as interested in the gradual burgeoning of their friendship as in the tale’s nonstop dramatic events. Moriarty introduces relevant messages such as the dangers of judging individuals by where they come from, but the messages are incorporated organically into the story; the many twists and turns of the plot will keep readers turning pages till the triumphant end.

From the January/February 2020 Horn Book Magazine.