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From India

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 16 May 2022

Book review:
CAW

Translation:
Loved the kids, Ogress and the crows.

Is this story about an Ogress? Yes
Is it about the orphans? Yes
Does it have a villain? Yes
Is it a beautifully written book? Yesssssss

Stone-in-the-Glen was once a beautiful town where people helped each other and the orphans were taken care of. A promising Mayor came into picture and fire destroyed the library and it didn't stop there. People just forgot how they were before and became unfriendly. An Ogress who lives by "The more I give, the more I have" comes to the village and changes the people only by her kindness. It's all about how an act of kindness brings out the good in people and also how sharing things with others multiplies the happiness of the giver and the receiver.
The kids were amazy. Loved Anthea, Bartleby, Cass and Elijah for all the things they did. I wish to live in that town so that I can meet the kids, the Ogress and also to eat the delicious things she bakes.
I loved how the author made the fictional people feel empathy via books which is what reading books make readers feel and some more. So The Ogress and the orphans is a story about how an Ogress, the orphans (and books) save the day. It was really nice to read a book that gave me hope after so long. Loved getting to know the narrator in the end.

Helpful

Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade

Some positives, more negatives

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 29 May 2022

The Ogress and the Orphans
by Kelly Barnhill, an award-winning author

Tags: Fantasy, magic, allegory

Audience: At least teenage and above

Story: About brave orphans, a good ogress, a bad dragon, and a village in which the story happens.

Comments
On the positive side, the book contains some nice ideas and some nice characters. It supports kindness to people, kindness to birds and animals, neighbourliness, hard work, and other virtues. The writing style is mostly simple, as though addressed to a child, and the story ends nicely.

On the negative side, the simplicity and the sugariness and the allegory tend to get on the reader's nerves; at 150 pages, the book could have been about right; at nearly 400 pages, it's more than annoying. The simplicity in places fails when the author brings in philosophical concepts; so, a child reader would probably skip these parts without understanding, always assuming that a child reader would survive 400 pages of a story that is too long by half. Many characters in the book in many places behave with a singular lack of common sense. The biggest negative is that the first three-quarters of the book is mostly about horrid people and unpleasant events; why would anybody sensible want to read this for pleasure?

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From other countries

Wendy's World

Awesome read - Already planning to read it again

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 14 December 2022

Verified Purchase

I read a lot of really bad books, and I went into this one just happy to have found a book that seemed like it would be wholesome with a cute storyline. This was exactly that. This has a lot of elements of a traditional fairy tale - a dragon, some magic, an ogress - and the elements of a really good kids' story, including some kids who are supposed to save the day if they can just figure out how. There's a lot of love in a non-traditional family setting but they are struggling because the evil Mayor has sown so much discord that neighbors no longer trust anyone except the Mayor. A lot of the story is reasonably predictable as the Ogress turns out to be a wonderful person and the Mayor is the villain, but there are also a lot of cute twists for the reader (did you know that cats hate dragons?). The kids' ability to work through problems is important, and they have to trust that the grown-ups they love the most will help them with their problem, which are great messages for young readers.
There are a lot of big words and the sentence structure is sometimes sort of difficult for a young reader to follow, but I'm about to start this as a read-aloud with a couple of younger grandkids. I recommended it as an audio book for my adult daughter. I really hope to find more from this author, which is something I don't often say!
The coolest twist in my opinion was that the story is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator. Though there are some clues, this narrator's identity is not revealed until the end. This narrator often makes the point that there is important information out there, if you just ... "Listen."

One person found this helpful

Rebecca Collins

Good family book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 26 January 2023

Verified Purchase

a great book to read before bedtime, wise and heartfelt. Would give it more then five stars if possible, we noticed some typos though, there seemed to be a j in some of front of the words, weren’t sure if this was someone’s idea of a joke or just a simple mistake. But it did add some humor to the end of the day. A very powerful and insightful read.

rmckee

"What is a neighbor?" the children asked.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 January 2023

Verified Purchase

By the time the Mayor gets through with what had once been a lovely town, it is a smoking ruin filled with suspicious, mistrusting people. It takes the Ogress and the Orphans, working separately - and then together after a terrible tragedy - a good long while to remind the townspeople of their better, neighborly selves and get them started on the hard work of restoring their town.

Kelly Barnhill is a wonderful writer who tells stories that make me laugh and cry and think. I highly recommend "The Ogress and the Orphans" to everyone.

One person found this helpful

Prenscella

So perfect

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 5 February 2023

Verified Purchase

I loved this book. The story is written so well that I can see it play out in my mind like a movie. So good.

Blue Horizon

Seriously cannot recommend it enough

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 25 September 2022

Verified Purchase

I just finished reading this book, which felt better than yoga & a massage & an hour of meditation & a hot bath all together. And now I have crows cawing on my roof. (I mean, that maybe has something to do with all the peanuts I left outside by the feeders, but I'm choosing to interpret their presence as a benediction.)

Anyway. I loved this book. I used to take real umbrage with the George Bernard Shaw quote "The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time." I read it as being anti-fantasy, anti-SF, anti-historical fiction, as if you can only write about your lived reality. And if that's how he meant it, I do object. But I think I was mistaken.

This is, indisputably, a fantasy book that takes place in a world and time that's not my current lived reality.

It is also, indisputably, an extremely timely and pertinent book that speaks directly, courageously, and strongly to the current political, social, and cultural moment. (It was published on March 8, 2022.)

It is a long meditation on the parable of the good Samaritan without being, in any way, Christian. It's about humanity and what we owe each other. It's about our culture and what our role is in a changing and evolving society.

It is the exact thing that people are talking about when we talk about fantasy not being "fake."

It's about racism and the importance of education and empty, hungry, small people using big talk and shiny gold to brainwash otherwise-decent people to behave appallingly and torpedo communities. It's about the good that's in all (most) of us. It's important to read and will be an excellent way to talk about current events with kids.

17 people found this helpful

CHARLA

In my top 3 books ever. Beautifully written

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 2 January 2023

Verified Purchase

I love everything about this book. The writing is so well done. I really enjoyed the story itself. Such imagination and it made me feel so much and think so much about life and everything. This is one of the best books I've ever read.

2 people found this helpful

Frequent Shopper

Absolutely incredible! A must-have in every home and school library!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 3 November 2022

Verified Purchase

Absolutely incredible and timely - should be required reading for anyone who wants to make this world we are living in a better place through the magic of kindness. I will read it again and again and will plan to gift this book to everyone I know. Simply incredible page turner. The message is loud and clear and profound. This story needs to be shared with the masses. We would be over the moon if it turned into a movie. *Originally purchased this for my 3 grade advanced reader and I ended up reading it aloud to the entire family while on holiday. Even my 6 year old was completely enthralled and felt all the emotions I would have hoped she would feel while experiencing this book. The discussions we had as a family while reading it were rich and necessary in todays world.

7 people found this helpful

Phyllis

For Book Club

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 25 December 2022

Verified Purchase

Great price point for a hard back book . My daughter was very happy with the book! Great storyline about compassion!

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The Ogress and the Orphans

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