Thank you Algonquin for sharing a copy of Ogress with me! I am a HUGE fantasy fan and I was so excited to read this new book by Kelly Barnhill. This book feels like a classic and has such wonderful creatures, characters, and messages/themes. It would make a great read aloud.

The Ogress and the Orphans reveals what can happen when a community allows themselves to put too much faith in person instead of helping the community and the most in need themselves. The fantasy elements are rich and deeply layered in the troubles that rot the heart of Stone-in-the-Glen, but they do not hide the very contemporary issues that have been prevalent in many communities the past several years. The characters are richly drawn, especially the Ogress, the members of the Orphan House, and the Mayor.

This is the story that we need right now: in an imagined town that has fallen on hard times, mutual trust is threadbare. The once-lovely town is now a shadow of its former self, but people are increasingly stressed and self-isolating. A band of orphans teams up with a kindly neighboring ogress, who is often unfairly blamed for the town's woes, to return neighborliness and mutual cooperation to their beloved home.

Barnhill writes in a fairy tale style, weaving multiple narratives into a strong, satisfying whole. This tale is related by a most unusual narrator whose identity is not clear until the end, and who is able to make connections between seemingly unrelated facts. As in most fairy tales, there is an obvious moral about how small acts of kindness can lead to large impacts. I like that not all the ways the characters try to right wrongs work but how they keep trying, and in the end, the characters and the readers see the beginning of a joyful future filled with love and neighborliness. This middle grade novel would also be a great read aloud for children of all ages.

This is a story that will grab your heart and mind as you move through this fantasy- but deep down you’ll wonder, is this really about an Ogress? What is the real story here? It will make you think. And cry. And laugh. And love.

A multi-level story of a kind, generous, Ogress facing prejudice, cruelty, and being ostracized by the people she helps. It is only through her kindness and the sensitivity of the orphans to goodness in their midst, that the life changes for everyone.

This was such an endearing, delightfully wonderful, feels-like-reality fantasy middle grade novel! The author’s note at the beginning really adds dimension to the book, as to her motivations behind writing it (spoiler: the last toxic presidential administration and the massive blossoming of fear/hate/vitriol had something to do with it). I love love LOVE how hope and love, patience and understanding, truth and knowledge fight back - my heart is so full!

Add this to your TBR if you haven’t read it yet - especially if you have/teach young children or feel young at heart!

{Thanks Algonquin and NetGalley for a gifted read!}

Disclaimer: I received this arc and e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Ogress and the Orphans

Author: Kelly Barnhill

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Recommended For...: middle grade readers, fantasy, fairytale

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Genre: MG Fantasy

Age Relevance: 10+ (gore, child disappearance, discrimination, violence)

Explanation of Above: There is some slight blood gore in the book and some violence with fire and a bait and switch where it looks like someone is going to harm lambs and sheep. There are scenes with a child who disappears into a forest. There is also a story on discrimination and some “build a wall” rhetoric that’s a bit triggering due to some recent stuff.

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Pages: 390

Synopsis: Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighborliness. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are.

Then one day a child goes missing from the Orphan House. At the Mayor’s suggestion, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The Orphans know this can’t be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen.

But how can the Orphans tell the story of the Ogress’s goodness to people who refuse to listen? And how can they make their deluded neighbors see the real villain in their midst?

Review: For the most part I liked the story. The author always does so well to craft these unique fairytale books and she makes them very atmospheric. The book has a multi POV narrative, which works well for the book, and it helps to show the different circumstances of the story. The character development is well done and the story is very strong. Overall, I feel like this would be an excellent bedtime story for younger kids or something you could buddy read with your littles.

The only issue I had with the book is that it’s very long winded and it’s slightly confusing. The book uses a lot of flowery language and it can be hard to get into.

Verdict: It’s a great young reader book, but also a great book to buddy read with your littles!

I was so excited to read this one because I loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon. It’s about an Ogress with a big heart who loves to bake trying to belong in a town that doesn’t want her there, and a group of orphans who have more smarts and compassion than all the adults around them.

This book asks the question: what is a neighbor? And explores the many relationships we have with people through the good times and the bad. It’s a bit of fairy tale metaphor for our world today. This a middle grade book with magic, talking crows, stones and trees that tell stories, gorgeous baked goods, a dragon masquerading as a man, and the friendships we all aspire to. Thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for the e-ARC.

Listen. Let me tell you a story. Imagine a town, Stone-in-Glen, small and quaint, peaceful and friendly. A town much like many others. Until something Terrible happens, and the town is slowly drained of its happiness, its peace, its kindness, the friendships and caring of neighbors becomes a scramble for limited resources and only taking care of oneself, without a thought for others.

Enter a group of earnest, hardworking orphans who have created their own ragtag family, an ogress, and a few other creatures, and add a healthy dollop of magic and whimsy and philosophy, and you will have a story that will make you cry, make you laugh, even make you cheer at times. A beautiful tale purportedly for written for children, but one that will also appeal to adults.

The Ogress and the Orphans is a middle-grade fantasy about the community in the town of Stone-in-the-Glen, the ogress who lives on the outskirts of town, and the orphans who live in the Orphan House in the town. And, most importantly, the book talks about what it means to be a neighbor, and how to pull a community back together after it has split apart, and after great tragedies.

The Ogress and the Orphans isn't particularly long, but it has so many rich and beautifully written characters. From the orphans, the ogress, the mayor, the butcher, the cobbler’s wife, and more, everyone in the book is full of depth and is easily imaginable.

Kelly Barnhill also uses really beautiful imagery to describe the settings in the book. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, the other book from her that I’ve read, is similar in this sense. Barnhill just really brings the characters and the world she writes about to life, and when reading, you can really well see the events unfolding in front of you like they were really there.

The little details in the world of The Ogress and the Orphans are all there, and that’s what I feel really brings the world to life. The most obscure details about the history of ogres, or the language that crows speak… it’s all woven into the plot in really neat ways.

I also thought that the pacing of The Ogress and the Orphans was done really well. There aren’t really any parts that are particularly slow, but none that rush too much either. I think that the story of the mayor was also unfolded very well, and that fits in perfectly with all the subplots in the book that added to the richness of it.

The Ogress and the Orphans is a beautifully written middle-grade fantasy with an important message about what can happen to a community after a tragedy, and how a community can build itself back up.

Thank you to Algonquin YR for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour for The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill.

Stone-in-the-Glen was a great town. It is not anymore. The residents are lacking in neighborliness and necessities. But they have a great Mayor. So he tells them. There have been fires and floods, but good times will return as long as they are generous with their giving. So he says. Everyone is struggling, but none more so than the orphan house. The orphans are very wise, as children sometimes are, but of course no one believes them when they point out the issues in the town. After all, children are better off not seen or heard according to the Mayor.

There is also an ogress who lives at the edge of town. She keeps her distance, but after years and years of searching, she feels like Stone-in-the-Glen is a place she could belong. The ogress spends her time making assorted food and delivering them anonymously to the residents of the town, but no one knows it was her; of course it couldn’t be the ogress. Ogres are not good, as the Mayor always says. And he should know, he’s very brave and has seen and done plenty of heroic things, like slaying dragons.

But things reach a boiling point when one of the orphans go missing. How can a town so divided come together to make things right?

I always feel the need to point out when a genre that I’m reviewing is not my favorite. And trust me when I say, middle grade is not my favorite. But I absolutely adored this book. It was heartwarming and sad, hopeful and dire, with even a bit of suspense and mystery. There were so many lessons, a couple that may not resonate as well with younger kids but hit home for adult readers, but regardless, several lessons that many of us could stand to be reminded of.

Kelly gave us a great cast of characters. A wide variety of personalities, very believable to be a town full of people. The orphans were a group, but also individual people. Myron and Matron were relatable caretakers, it was so easy to sympathize with their troubles and also to root for them to succeed.

The writing was fun. It was humorous and emotional. It would be a fun book to read with or to your middle-grade aged child, both parties would surely get something out of it. I really would recommend this book to any age group. If you’re in the mood for a feel-good story, you should look to The Ogress and the Orphans.

4 1/2 stars

You have probably heard some form of the quote “If you have to choose between being right or kind, be kind.” (Wayne W. Dyer) Newbery Medal Kelly Barnhill takes that one step further in her newest novel, The Ogress and the Orphans, by showing that kindness does not need to be separate from learning and knowledge but that they should work in tandem to make the world a better place.

Stone-in-the-Glen was once a very nice village to live in. There was a library, school, and trees. Infrastructure was tended to by taxes collected by the mayor. And, people were kind to each other and happy. A strange thing happened when a self-celebrated dragon slayer arrived in town, wooed everyone, and became the new mayor. The school and the library burned down and the trees died away and everything fell apart, including the townsfolk’s neighborliness. But for a long time, the mayor who glittered and collected their gold blinded them with his dazzle, and they were none the wiser.

After an Ogress moves to the outskirts of town (a deceitful dragon burned down the ogre village where she lived), good things begin to happen to the townsfolk. Her garden and orchard are magical places that provide, and she lives by the motto, the more you give, the more you have. The treats she bakes and makes, she gives anonymously to the townsfolk. Will her acts of kindness save the town? Or because she is so very different from the townsfolk, will she be an easy mark for a mayor who wants to control the people? And, will the Orphans who have lived with books, learned the magic of them, learned to speak to all of the animals, and understand kindness and intelligence and what is right and what is wrong, save them all?

All of us readers know that books are magic. And, if we forget, every once in a while, a kind and true and observant book will surface to remind us how wonderful books are and how wonderful we can become when we read them and talk about them and share their ideas. The Ogress and the Orphans is just that kind of book. People who read widely tend not to be swayed as easily by those things that glitter without substance.

Bartleby was in tears. “Kindness exists. Can’t you see? And it makes more kindness!”

The Ogress and the Orphans takes on the themes of deceit, magic, kindness, loneliness, love, and what it means to be a neighbor (and others I’ve not mentioned). Some of the writing and ideas may be lost on the younger ages of the reading audience but I don’t believe that would stop them from reading and being entertained. Who doesn’t love kind ogres, shape-shifting dragons, and very beautiful crows? This one should nourish the brains of those open to magic and kindness and, of course, books. The Ogress and the Orphans is a not only a story for dark times, but a salve that can help heal by showing that being kind is a good thing and that everyone deserves it.

While, at times, The Ogress and the Orphans was long and sometimes repetitive, this never took away from my enjoyment in reading and I’d happily read about the ogress and the orphans again.

How easy it would be to continue to discuss this book with you (I have many notes, ha) but I believe that this one would be better for you to read and be charmed by.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”. That is the underlying theme of The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill. A charming middle-grade fairy tale from the author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

The stunning cover is a precursor to the beautiful story within. More akin to a fairy tale than a fantasy, the book includes everything – an ogress with a heart of gold, a bunch of children who want to set things right, dragons, talking crows, and a blind dog. And more importantly, books (a metaphor for knowledge) that save the day. The importance of stories and how they help build empathy.

The writing is lyrical, a rarity in children’s books. At the same time, it is relatively simpler keeping the target readers in mind. The book is narrated by a mysterious and omniscient narrator with a generous peppering of life lessons.

The book is so much more than a fairy tale about good versus evil. In a lot many ways, it is a reflection of the current times. The general lack of faith and hope. Cynical now more than ever. Stone-in-the-Glen could very well be our own city. The community our own neighborhood.

This is an important book in this day and age. Although it is a bit too long considering that it is directed at children, it is a beautiful read nonetheless. I highly recommend you pick it up. As a gift for a young reader or for yourself.

The Ogress and the Orphans is a tale of a small community where the importance of acceptance and kindness to your neighbors is a lesson for all. There are secrets, magic, crows, and so much more. Perfect family read that will pull you into the town with the descriptive writing.

The Ogress and the Orphans is an entertaining book with important messages woven throughout. Set in a place where neighbors had cared for one another in the past, but things have changed. The story of rediscovering their sense of neighborliness and helping one another is one we can all take something from. Finally, my big takeaway was the ending – a commentary on the power of the collective to get things done.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily. I am sorry to say that I did not connect with the characters in this book. It actually was a trigger for me. You might connect with the characters and theme, so please do not take my opinion as anything other than a reader who did not make a connection.

4.5 🌟

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐬 is a beautiful fairy-tale-like story about a small community that lets mistrust, judgment, and greed push out kindness and neighborliness.

Stone-in-the-Glen has had some hard times, the library burned down, and the school and then the trees withered. The people put their hope in the Mayor; he has made big claims - he was a dragon slayer once, so he says - and he can fix the town.

But when there are problems, people look for someone to blame. When one of the orphans, from the Orphan House, goes missing, the Mayor incites the people that it is the Ogress who must have taken her. Yet the orphans know that the Ogress, who lives with a flock of crows and a blind dog, is all too kind. In fact, she is the one who has been delivering gifts to the townspeople.

I loved the themes tucked within this story, maybe it’s more political, but I see it as people are not always what they appear to be. The townspeople gave into believing the lies they were told and even acted upon them cruelly. But I loved the Ogress and her little band of animals; so many were quick to judge her, but she continued to spread kindness. 𝘼 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣.

Thank you to @algonquinyr and @insufferable_blabbermouth for a spot on tour and a gifted copy.

I loved, loved, loved this story. I'm a big fan of Kelly Barnhill ever since I read her other book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon and this did not disappoint. This definitely lives up to the hype.
This did have moments that seemed a bit slow, but overall I loved pretty much everything about this. This got me right in the feels and I think everyone needs to read this. This is the kind of book that everyone needs to read. I think the world needs this story especially now.
This is about an ogress in a village who is kind to everyone, a dragon in disguise, and the orphans who save the day. This is like a love letter to everyone and a warm hug.
Make sure to go get this and read it as soon as it comes out. I highly recommend this. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readers for letting me read and review this amazing story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"I think a lot of things are magic if you think about it right"
Reading a Barnhill book feels like snuggling under a well-worn patchwork quilt and following along as the storyteller weaves her enchantment.
Her stories are distinguished by a conversational narrative style, the artful turn of phrase, and an assortment of endearing characters.
Barnhill paints her characters with charming details. The Ogress is a rough-hewn individual of mythic proportions, including a heart that is equally large. She gently pads around town on feet the size of tortoise shells, dispensing goodness. The bustling Cobbler’s wife is a take-charge woman, always moving full steam ahead.
​So much to do…This broken world isn’t going to fix itself…
An aging couple lovingly care for fifteen orphans: industrious children who look out for one another, read books, and speak multiple languages including crow. From analytical Anthea and philosopher Bartley to twins Fortunate and Gratitude and all the way to baby Orpheus, these alphabetically named children form a unique family.
Picture
​The crows! They are avians possessing a slightly inflated sense of self-importance. Along with a blind dog, they are the Ogress' companions and allies. These birds enjoy cuddling in children’s laps. Cuddling crows? Who knew?
​In every story there is a villain and what a sly and mean-spirited scoundrel this one is. Interestingly, the Ogress fails to see the villainy, consistently delivering a pie to the individual planning her downfall. The plot, the tale of a town that lost its soul, is fairly straightforward. Observant readers will deduce the identity of both the narrator and the villain.
Chapter titles deserve a special mention. Clever phrases serve as an excellent segue to each succeeding chapter. At each chapter's conclusion readers will anticipate the page turn, waiting to discover what the next title reveals.
As with any fairy tale, there is a judicious touch of magic sprinkled throughout the pages.
Sometimes an event takes place at precisely the right time. The Ogress and the Orphans is entering our weary world when we’ve spent the past two years sequestered in our own little spaces, ordering food delivery, avoiding close contact with the others, only venturing out when our faces are masked. Fear, sometimes justified, has kept us isolated from others. Perhaps now is the time to take that loaf of banana bread to a neighbor. Maybe it’s time to start sharing stories and speaking with one another.
Need inspiration as you cautiously venture outside your carefully constructed refuge? Consult The Ogress and the Orphans. It is a master class in what it means to be a neighbor.
​A story of kindness and belonging, of generosity and goodness.
​“The more you give, the more you have. It is the best sort of magic.”