The Secret of Glendunny: The Haunting

by Kathryn Lasky

Newbery Honor–winning Kathryn Lasky, author of the bestselling Guardians of Ga’Hoole and Bears of Ice series, delivers a sweeping middle grade animal adventure with loyal beavers, a cultured swan, and ominous lynxes around every turn—a captivating story about heroism, loyalty, and the courage to speak truth to power.

"Draws readers deeply into a mystical world and leaves them wishing for more." —Kirkus (starred review)

“A marvelous adventure…an enchanting introduction to a wonderful, new natural world.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Themes of belonging and friendship are well conveyed… as are the complexities of this industrious world of creatures.” —Publishers Weekly

Deep in the wilds of Scotland, land of ancient warrior kings and myths, there is a deep secret. The secret is a colony of beavers, a species that is craved for their fur pelts, but vilified for what humans consider to be the destruction of their land. No beaver has been spotted in Scotland or England for over five hundred years, until the young beaver, Dunwattle, is sighted!

Dunwattle’s flight is driven by the presence of a ghostly figure, a figure of a mysterious young girl who is almost one thousand years old. And now Dunwattle is destined to be destroyed for revealing the hidden colony, but his best friend Locksley is determined to save him. Will their ancient beaver colony survive?

• ISBN10: 0063031019
• ISBN13: 9780063031012
• Publish Date: 28 April 2022 (first published 15 March 2022)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 22 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Secret of Glendunny: The Haunting is an anthropomorphic fantasy adventure by Kathryn Lasky written for middle grade readers. Released 15th March 2022 by Harper Collins, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is an engaging fast paced character driven fantasy where almost all the characters are animals. There are some human characters (they're mostly scientists looking for the elusive thought-to-be-extinct beavers in the British Isles), but they're sort of intentionally two dimensional and vaguely threatening. The story is told from alternating points of view of the different characters. The author is skilled enough that it's always clear who's speaking and I didn't find myself bogging down in the story or having to flip back and forth to clarify.

The story includes some surprising scenes of battles ancient and modern and descriptions of death (both animals and humans) and skullduggery which is almost Shakespearean in scope. There are also some ghosts who are more or less benevolent in context, but might well be scary for very young and/or sensitive readers.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 6 hours, 40 minutes and is capably narrated by James Fouhey. He has good range for the scope of the characters, adults and juveniles, animals and humans. I was a bit taken aback that he has an American accent (the story's set in England/Scotland) but after a few minutes I was immersed in the story and didn't notice. He does a very good job delineating the different characters and there are many. Sound & production quality were high throughout.

Four stars. I really loved the pervasive sense of magic and wonder throughout the story. The main characters are well rendered and appealing. This would be a good selection for public or school library acquisition, story time at the library, and home library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.