I really enjoyed this book. I felt badly for Holly and her friends as they agonized over their limited magical abilities. lots of action and adventure in this book. Also soul-searching. I loved the friendships in this book - the best friends and the making of friends. I loved the message about being different. There are a few lovely quotes in this book - here's one "You're only a failure if you quit. Until then you're just someone who hasn't succeeded yet." Another winner for Sarah Beth Durst.

The Shelterings by Sarah Beth Durst
An admitted fan, I was not surprised to like this book. Durst reveals her love of talking animals. I, too, am fond of anthropomorphism. It can be found in my own books. This book provides some serious lessons on self-acceptance and acceptance of others.
Holly is a squirrel whose self-image was severely damaged when she supped from the magic pool and found her resultant magic skill was not well regarded by a wizard’s council. Relegated to a home for rejects, Holly tries to make all who arrive feel better about themselves.
The story is written at a very young adult or mid to late elementary school age. However, it provides lessons that would well serve any age.
The magic skills of the wayward home rejects are amusing. The story has very mild conflict and should be suitable for any age child.
I recommend the book.

Shelterlings is a cute, fun, sweet middle grade book about friends bonding together and combining all of their strengths to overcome an adversary. If you love books with found families and characters using their wits to solve problems then this is definitely one to check out.

The story revolves around characters who are animal familiars who weren't given exceptional magical talents and are thus not chosen by a witch/wizard. They are sent to the Shelter for Rejected Familiars where they make their new home their own. I totally love enjoying see how the characters are welcomed and how they find ways to use their not as flashy magical talents to the fullest.

Also, this might be a spoiler but one of my favorite things about Sarah Beth Durst's stories I've read in the middle grade category so far is that adversaries/antagonists/conflicts are not resolved with violence. There's always this air of hope and charm in her stories and I always feel good after finishing them.

Perfect for the age group and if you wanted something sweet, quick to read, and absolutely adorable then this is it!

eArc provided by NetGalley.

The Shelterings is a novel centered around talking animals with magic, those who have been granted magic from the unique pond. Some are given powers that are deemed valid and are paired with a wizard as a familiar. Others' magic is considered nonbeneficial, so they live in a shelter for rejected familiars. My favorite character is holly, a squirrel who can conjure pastries.
The Shelterings emphasizes the critical lesson of accepting that we are unique; nothing makes anyone more special. They know how amazing your talents are and how useful they are to how the world can become a better place. The story is simple and easy to follow and holds important truths all middle-graders will need to hear and hold dear.
We all struggle with choices about what kind of human/creature you choose to be, choices about your actions with others, and choices about who to trust and believe. The Shelterings would be a great discussion book for a classroom as the themes are honest discussion stepping stones. Sarah beth durst hits it out of the park with another remarkable middle-grade novel.

This was an exciting and entertaining middle grade fantasy. Holly, a gray squirrel, is one of a group of magical misfits whose unusual magical abilities make them unsuitable to work as wizard's companions. Holly and her best friend Gus, an owl who can turn to stone, are just a couple of the residents of the Shelter for Rejected Familiars.

All of the animals traveled to the magic pool in the hopes of becoming a wizard's familiar and going on adventures and doing heroic deeds. Holly and the others are disappointed and distressed to be rejected. But Holly is an optimistic sort of squirrel who is making the best of her new home. She's made friends with the other residents and is helping them perfect their magical abilities. Holly, herself, can conjure up pastries - muffins, croissants, and other baked treats. There's a turtle with super speed but slow reactions who keeps crashing into things. There's a gecko who can inflate like a balloon and float. There's a cow who makes prophecies - which are always wrong.

When a new resident comes, Holly tries to make her feel at home. Periwinkle is a lemur who finds lost things. Unfortunately, the thing's owners don't always agree that the things were lost and call her a thief. Despite her prickly personality, Holly wants to befriend her and help her fit in.

Then Charlie, a beaver whose magical talent is manifesting cut flowers, comes back to the house and asks the familiars to help him find some magical ingredients that he says will help all of the with their magic. He wants to recast the original spell on the magic pool. The familiars are excited to help Charlie.

Holly gets involved in a number of the quests and her courage, ingenuity and friendliness makes them successful. But she begins to think that Charlie might have an ulterior motive that he isn't sharing with the rest of the familiars.

While I'm not usually a fan of talking animals, I did enjoy this story. I really liked Holly's character. She was such a wonderful person with integrity and curiosity and a quiet heroism. Middle grade fantasy fans will find much to enjoy in this engaging story.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

What a fun collection of magical misfit animals! I think books with animal main characters can be such a great way to start a discussion with students because the lessons learned feel less personal, and so kids can really talk about them...and then translate them to their own life.

I would be interested in a sequel to this book with more quests for this group of animals.

"Choices. It's always about choices: what kind of creature you choose to be...She'd always tried to choose to be kind."

This was such a wonderful book that I absolutely adored from the first page. I loved all of the characters and the adventure hooked me from the start. This will be an excellent book to hand any kid who love animals, adventure and magic.

Holly is a squirrel who wanted adventure and magic, but the wizards didn’t want her or her ability to summon pastries. What is wrong with these wizards? She ends up at the home for rejected familiars where she finds friendship with the other rejected animals. But soon Holly is finding out that she doesn’t need the wizards acceptance to be useful and to have adventures. The story is told from Holly’s point of view, but all of the animals have a part to play in this book.

I adored many of the animals that live with Holly, most notably Gus, the owl and Holly’s best friend. He is an owl of many talents, not just his magical ability to turn into a statue. He was also brave and funny and I just loved him. I also loved Periwinkle, the lemur who could find lost things, although she had trouble giving them back to their owners. Zaphyr the turtle who was faster and stronger than your average turtle. And finally Clover, a cow who told backwards prophecies. All of the animals where delightful and I loved reading about their different magical abilities.

The adventures that Holly and her friends, go on are quite fascinating and will keep you interested in the story. The writing style is also very engaging and at times funny. The descriptions of the places they go are well done and easily make you feel like you are right there, but hopefully there will be a map included in the final book as the layout of the land was a bit confusing.

I really hope that this is the start of series. I would very much enjoy continuing to read about these wonderful animals and their exciting adventures. It was fun to watch them all grow and learn to believe in themselves and their talents.

Fun characters and adventures. Pastries sound like a wonderful gift to receive even as squirrel.
The Shelterlings learn to enjoy the difference between their unusual talents and those of the regular familiars who see them as the lucky ones.

This book immediately captured my attention and created a world that I was ready to be fully immersed in. This was such a fun and quick read. Watching our animalistic characters grow, and truly embracing themselves and their new friends, made this story easy to love. I wish there had been more conflict, but the world that was created has such potential that I hope to see in future books.

A squirrel, barn owl, turtle, pink flamingo, rabbit, snakes—animals that talk---how could a child NOT like a book with characters such as these? And each animal character has a unique, magical power, although each one of them thinks of him/herself as useless. No wonder they all live together at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars. This is a delightful story for children who eventually find that the characters with useless powers are not useless at all; that old friends sometimes are not friends at all; and unpleasant beginnings can turn into perfect endings.

This was such a lovely book! For starters, that cover is so amazing and I would have loved to see that as a young kid. I really enjoyed the main characters and plot in this one.

Thank you to Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Shelterings is a delight of a book. The setting of a 'shelter for rejected magical familiars' is inspired and Sarah Durst creates an utterly believable world and a host of endearing characters, each with their own quirky magical power. The main character in particular, Holly the squirrel, is adorable and Sarah Durst draws out her feelings of inadequacy and failure brilliantly and sensitively. When the animals are offered the chance to change their destiny and gain the powers they were promised, it sends her and her friends on an adventure to gather a collection of magical items, facing their fears along the way. What follows is an action packed adventure that zips along at a great pace while Holly and her friends learn that, maybe, they have all the powers they really need already.

Exciting, fun and moving, The Shelterlings is magical adventure about finding friendship and learning to value our differences.

A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powers—and themselves—when they work together to thwart a villain’s attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards’ familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat—Holly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)—that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as “shelterlings.”

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings’ defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.

I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS BOOK!

It had magic, underdogs, animals, TALKING ANIMALS, friendship, adventure, heroics, good vs evil!!! Wow!!!! I just loved the world of the Shelterlings that Durst created and I never wanted to leave. I want my own Shelterling… where do I sign up!

This story was just filled with good feels and warmth and all bubbled down to a fantastic message that it is okay to be different, everyone is special, there is a place for you and when you find it you will find where you belong!!!! Be still my beating heart!

The Shelterlings is my all time favorite book by Sarah Beth Durst, and she has written some amazing one. I like it even more than The Stone Girl's Story and Spark. The Shelterlings are misfit familiars that have been rejected by their wizards for having "useless" powers. The main character is a squirrel named Holly that can conjure pastries. Wouldn't I love to have that magical power but her wizard didn't think it was useful so she ended up at the shelter for rejected familiars where she makes herself useful taking care of all the other animals there. Now her mentor has returned with a spell to change the defective magic and needs the Shelterlings help to do it. But, is he really trying to help them or just himself? Middle grade readers will love this book. It has great characters, humor, friendships, and a wonderful message. It would also make a fantastic read aloud. I highly recommend it!

I have read many books by this author and have loved them all. Such a great message to go along with this story! About accepting who you are and knowing that you ARE good enough. A message many kids need to hear these days. I love the characters... I am a fan of talking animals. Great cover, just like all her other books. I will most likely purchase this for my elementary library.

This was the cutest middle grade novel I have read in a long while! Rejected familiars with 'useless' powers band together to try and fix their gifts. It's a great premise, and executed really well.