Nicola Skinne is one of the unsung heroes of middle grade. Her ideas are wild, her outlook dark in a Dahl-ian (new word! Yay!) fashion and her characters compelling.

She should be wildly successful and widely available. The is no exception, short and sweet and really well done one child’s bullying leads to an overzealous scarecrow protector. The imagery is amazing and the story is tight.

Great stuff.

Hattie is lonely at her new school and makes a scarecrow to keep her company. The last thing she expects is for it to come to life and scare those she is trying to befriend!
In Barrington Stoke’s dyslexia friendly and easy to read font, this engaging story is great for readers building their stamina and confidence in reading longer books. Its short chapters make it easy to take a break at a suitable point and the pictures break up the text into smaller manageable chunks. Although the story is quite simple, there is enough mild peril to engage older readers too

The front cover sold this story to us before we'd even read the blurb. Spooky and slightly sinister without being too scary, Crow is a great tale about the difficulties of new beginnings.

When Hattie starts a new school, she quickly decides that she doesn't fit in. To protect herself and her secret den, she builds a scarecrow and orders him to guard them.

Crow loves watching the other children have fun but orders are orders and he has to take them seriously. But as his behaviour gets scarier, Hattie finds herself becoming more and more isolated. Has she made a terrible mistake?

This is an entertaining tale about fitting in. Although Hattie, at times, comes across as unlikeable, Nicola Skinner keeps the reader connected to her by making her inner thoughts and feelings relatable. In contrast to Hattie's gruffness, we found Crow totally endearing, even when he was at his scariest. This was because we knew he wanted to be something different, and because of the brilliant way Rebecca Bagley brought Crow to life in the illustrations.

This is a fun story full of atmosphere and tension, perfect for the start of a new school year or for anyone struggling to make friends. We didn't want to say goodbye to Crow and thought there was masses of potential for further stories...

Look out, look out there’s a scarecrow about! Big change leads to even bigger scares in a darkly humorous, emotionally intelligent and astutely aware supernatural schoolyard story.

Hattie Mole’s life is being turned upside down. Dad is moving the family to the village of Little Plug and Hattie is dreading going to a new school, squirming at the thought of making new friends and cannot get the smell of cow poo out of her nose. After a disastrous day, Hattie creates a Scarecrow to protect the only place at school she feels happy…the den. Crow isn’t one for just standing guard though and after magically coming to life he is soon causing chaos and scaring everyone. Can Hattie put an end to Crow’s frightening ways? Can she overcome her fears? Will she make some friends?
Being uprooted and having to start over is never easy; settling into a new home, building new friendships and navigating unfamiliar surroundings can be incredibly challenging. Sometimes a creation of your own making is exactly what is needed to make the transition easier. I have childhood memories of being terrified by Worzel Gummidge so a scarecrow BFF would be low down on my list of priorities but each to their own.

Nicola Skinner is a brilliant writer of important books that address real issues that children have to deal with and that they can easily relate to. Her latest book, Crow, is another excellent read that will bring comfort and reassurances to youngsters who are moving away from everything they know. In a story that merges the everyday with the supernatural, children will feel seen, their experiences recognised, and their thoughts and feelings validated.

Crow is quirky, imaginative and occasionally frightening as it deals with Hattie’s change in circumstances that all get rather out of hand as her new best friend takes his role of protector very seriously and is soon causing more problems than he is solving. It is a smartly written and concise narrative with a clever mirroring of the two main protagonists. Crow’s negative character development as he pushes people away allows Hattie to make connections with her own behaviours and change her ways for the better.

We don’t get enough dark comedic humour in early and accessible chapter books which is unfortunate as there is certainly a growing market for this not-to-everyone's-taste brand of laughs and scares. It is is great to have a title that hits the mark for a younger audience before they move on to longer reads such as Sticky Pines (Dashe Roberts), Crater Lake (Jennifer Killick) or another Barrington Stoke title, A Most Peculiar Toy Factory (Alex Bell). Crow’s deliciously dark personality serves up some fabulously funny moments with that slight macabre edge and his literal providing of the scares is a genius play on scarecrow, the wordplay is only bettered by Straun’s own brand of confused idioms.

Presenting as neurodivergent, Hattie is a complicated little character who doesn’t always come across as likeable. Peel back the layers and, like many of us, her meanness is a defence mechanism to keep the anxieties and fears at bay. Addressing some of Hattie’s traits - she enjoys her own space, needs to have things done in an exact way, hates the feel of certain clothes, struggles to connect with other children and doesn’t always read situations correctly - readers are given an honest and perceptive portrayal of a child who experiences the world differently to many of her peers and the daily challenges and thought processes that she goes through.

Bringing the story, and in Crow’s case, literally, to life, is the awesome artwork of Rebecca Bagely whose mix of full and partial page black and white artwork could not capture the tone more perfectly. Short and pacy chapters provide plenty of points to pause and aid children in developing reading stamina although with such engaging storytelling I suspect most will be reading from first page to last. As with all Barrington Stoke reads dyslexic-friendly font and page tint ensure Crow can be accessed and enjoyed by all and the high-interest low-readability text is perfect for children in years two and three.

With a few frights along the way, this very left-field tale of coping with anxiety and finding friends - assisted by the most unlikely source - is highly entertaining and a great deal of fun. Offering some unique emotional support - I’ll never be able to look at a scarecrow the same way ever again, it will go down very well with any child who is experiencing upheaval in their own lives (no promise of scarecrows of your own making coming to life).

Recommended for 7+.

With huge thanks to Barrington Stoke for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.

A charming, imaginative and fun read that not only provides an entertaining read but also touches on themes of dealing with anxiety, change, and friendship.
I loved that Hattie brought Crow to life, and I wish everyone was as impressed as I was but things take a dark turn when Hattie tells Crow to guard her den and scare away the other kids, and poor Crow doesn't know when to stop saying Booo!
Highly recommend!

Hattie is one of those girls who just hates the idea of moving home and being put in a new school – but that is what is happening. Blurting things out to the kids welcoming her, failing to engage them in her hobbies, she finds a wonderful little den under an oak tree just off the playground. But when it's obvious this won't be her sole domain, she builds a scarecrow to put the other schoolchildren off. And in a way, it works – just too well…

This is a fairly wonderful story – looking like it will be about how a girl does, or does not, get to feel like she's fitting in, only to take a much more spooky kind of feel. It's very well pitched, to my mind, with the reading age of seven, but the appeal to older kids – as you'd expect from Barrington Stoke, the people who put a lot of work into making sure their books for dyslexics and those with other reading issues do not look like they're off the remedial shelf. This will have the perfect colour paper stock and ideal font size for those audiences, but even without the specialist attention this deserves a strong four stars for the general audience. I'll not thank it for reminding me when Worzel Gummidge and Aunt Sally turned up to my school fete as a kid, but I enjoyed it for everything else.

Crow is an another brilliant addition to the Barrington Stoke collection, (perhaps one of their Little Gems series?) and I adored it. The wonderful thing about these books is that they do so much for the amount of text and pages they have. This one by the incredible Nicola Skinner is no exception.
What Lottie struggles to fit in at her new school, she finds a safe space in the grounds. However, other children want to share the space and also be friends with Lottie, despite her objections. Lottie decides that the only thing she can do is create a scarecrow to keep them away. This works at first, much to Lottie's delight, but things take a turn...
I loved this book. I know a lot of children who would be able to identify with how Lottie feels in terms of wanting her own space and things done her way. I also think the story tackles the impact of pushing people away in a subtle but powerful way. A great, little read.

2.7 Stars
One Liner: This could have been better

Hattie Mole is stressed out by her family’s move to the countryside. Going to a new school and making new friends is terrifying. After what she thinks is a disastrous day at school, Hattie makes a scarecrow called Crow to protect her little den in the school playground. However, Crow soon has a life of his own and decides he needs to protect Hattie.
Hattie realizes things have gotten out of hand. If she doesn’t sort them out, she may end up being alone with no friends.
The story comes from Hattie’s first-person POV.

My Thoughts:
The book’s premise is wonderful, and I had great expectations from it. It’s never easy for some people to make new friends. It’s even scarier for kids to relocate and fit into an established environment. Unfortunately... it goes downhill quickly.
Hattie is a little girl (probably around eight) with a pet, Sid the Rat (which kinda loses its importance halfway through). She has an older brother, Oliver, and a dad who’s a chef. While the brother and father have some roles, the book mainly deals with Hattie and her school life.
The writing is easy to read and has simple language suitable for little ones. The font and print are children-friendly, as it’s a norm with the publisher’s books.
I’m not sure if Hattie is neurodivergent or is simply struggling to express her emotions through the right channel, common for a child of her age. After all, we don’t have enough information to see if her father and brother have addressed her concerns instead of simply telling her everything will be fine. We know that doesn’t help.
I like how the Crow makes things worse, and Hattie realizes things, but the tone doesn’t sit right. Hattie’s voice is off for almost 80% of the book. This could also be because the story is short, with little background information and basic character development. This one should have been a bit longer to establish Hattie’s fears, dilemmas, worries, etc., instead of making her sound rude and uncaring without reason.
The vibes are off, especially as Katya is established as a friendly girl trying to help and make friends, and Struan is a jovial little kid. Also, no adult actually talks to Hattie about how things are going on.
There’s no backing for the magic (except a possible hint through Oliver). Kids wouldn’t bother with such details, of course. But as an adult, if a book has elements of magic, I do like them present throughout or explained in some way. Maybe it’s a town where such things are common. How fun would that be!
The illustrations are messy-cute. That’s not a word, but it is now. The pencil sketches have rough lines and resemble children’s drawings, albeit with more details. I like that they suit the storyline and the POV. Hattie’s hair is the best. I always love kids with messy pigtails. Who has a super neat hairstyle as a kid anyway? The scarecrow is the cutest, even when he is busy trying to be scary… boo!

To summarize, Crow is a short story about relocating, making friends, and understanding that friendship is a two-way thing (or it could have been). I wanted this to be a lot better, though.
Thank you, NetGalley and Barrington Stoke, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
****
The review will not be posted on Amazon due to the rating.

In a Nutshell: Mixed feelings. A decent story by itself, but I don’t know if I want children to read a story with such an annoying main character.

Story Synopsis:
Hattie’s family, which comprises her father, her brother, and her pet rat, is moving from Bristol to a village in Somerset, much to Hattie’s chagrin. She doesn’t like talking to new people, and is quite irritated about having to attend a new school.
When she sees a scarecrow in one of the local fields, she decides to make her own scarecrow, whom she calls ‘Crow’, to scare kids away from her den in a corner of the school playground. Crow mysteriously comes to life, and turns out to be too serious about his job – scaring children. Hattie is happy with his attempts, but soon she realises that things are getting out of hand. What can she do?
The story comes to us in Hattie’s first person perspective.


At the surface level, this should have been a great story for kids. Most modern kids don’t even know what a scarecrow is, so to take the term literally and have a “scare” crow coming to life should have been a fun concept. Crow is initially reluctant to be so frightening as he is more interested in having fun with the other kids, but he is loyal to his “maker” and hence has to follow her dictates. This highlights how peer pressure can sometimes force you into being what you aren’t, and hopefully, kids will realise that there’s always a choice.

However, we hear the story from Hattie’s point of view, and therein lies the biggest problem – Hattie is not a likeable character, not just because of her behaviour, but also because the reason behind her anxiety and irritation is never explained. Kids should have been able to connect with Hattie’s nervousness about being in a new place and school, but the fact is that she doesn’t ever attempt to fit in. Right from the start, she is portrayed as someone who is rude (even to her dad), manipulative, and adamant. The book should have been about her struggles to fit in, but she doesn’t even attempt to fit in. What message does that give the little readers?

In such stories, it’s usually the new kids who are either bullies or distant or rude. But all the kids at Hattie’s new school are quite sweet and friendly, which makes her behaviour even more flabbergasting. For the first time ever, I liked every child in the book except the main protagonist, and that leaves me confused – would I want my children to read a book with such a lead character? One who is obnoxious without any justification being provided? One who is so aggressive that she doesn’t even feel guilty about others being hurt? One who has no qualms stealing her father’s favourite pair of jeans and ripping them to make a scarecrow? I don’t think so.

Because of the choice of writing this story in first person, we also miss out on some essential information that *might* have helped us understand Hattie. Where is her mother? Why wasn’t she happy for her dad when she admits that he hadn’t been happy for years after having lost his job? Why was she so resistant to the idea of making friends? No answers. We also don’t know how Crow suddenly comes alive. Also, what happened to her pet rat Sid? After all the fuss she makes at the start about Sid being dearer to her than her own brother, Sid doesn’t come up in the story again.

Of course, Hattie’s behaviour does improve at the end, and we get a HEA ending, as is expected in children’s fiction, but it’s a case of too little, too late.

The only thing I loved about the book were the illustrations. They are really cute and complement the story well. Another fun element was Struan’s mismatched idioms.

Though the language of the book is in Barrington Stoke’s typical Hi-Lo style, catering to a lower reading age while being targeted at middle graders, I am not very comfortable recommending this to the target audience. Try as I might, I simply can’t see the point of this book.

2 stars.

My thanks to Barrington Stoke and NetGalley for the DRC of “Crow”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

Making new friends is not really part of Hattie’s plan, in fact she’s created something to keep people away. But the Crow is on a different mission and he must protect Hattie at all costs, no matter the chaos.

This was an interesting idea, but something seemed missing for me, it might’ve been a good jumping point for a slightly longer story instead of part of the Barrington Stoke range. I think my problem was with the main character, as she seemed too resistant to mixing and we never found out why. Though this is probably an adult overthinking this and the target audience will enjoy the story. I loved the illustrations though and the cover was what drew me to request the book.

A short story about a girl who is struggling to fit in her new school but tries her hand at crafting a scarecrow to protect her from the other kids. And then things don't quite go to plan. As a short story, there are some thing I'd love to know - why the protagonist is sop resistant to making friends and where the magic comes from. But I thought this was a super little story - and I loved the word play and play with language.

Thank you so much to Barrington Stoke and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Hattie has moved to a new school, in a new place, she isn’t happy or comfortable with it. When her first day of school doesn’t go right she finds a hidden tree but everyone else ruins it. So she creates a protector of her Den, a scarecrow who comes alive to keep her safe.

I really enjoyed the storyline with Crow becoming real and how though she made him to protect her Den, he actually protected her and become so overprotective she couldn’t do anything without his interference. But it helped her understand that the kids she thought were laughing at her was actually fascinated by her instead. It was really great storyline with great progression.

Hattie was an interesting character though it isn’t stated I felt like she was Neurodivergent honestly, her traits and her struggles adapting to the changes. It doesn’t say anything but just something I picked up on. But regardless she struggled to connect, to be around other students and felt like they were all just laughing at her and didn’t know what to do other than shut her self away from them all. It was so sad, but was I happy that she managed to get through the struggles eventually.

It’s a cute book on the struggles of being in a new place, new environment, having to make new friends and not having the social abilities to do so and how an art creation can come alive. It’s a very easy and interesting read with illustrations throughout the book which were fun to look at. I do really recommend this book to younger readers.

Crow is a sweet and relatable story about change, that nevertheless deals with quite complex topics such as loneliness and misunderstandings. Not the least of these is how we often self-sabotage and end up doing precisely the opposite of what we had intended.

Sometimes, the desire to protect ourselves from disappointment and/or the fear of rejection can combine to make us behave in ways that are detrimental to our wellbeing - as Hattie finds out after she moves with her father and older brother to the place where her father's new job is located.

Unable to settle in at the new school, and after failing badly with her attempt to make new friends, Hattie instead builds a scarecrow to frighten off the other children so that she can do her own thing. She is good at making things, but not at all keen on sharing her skills, or those things that she makes, with the other students.

Unfortunately, her plans backfire in quite a spectacular fashion. Crow, as Hattie names her scarecrow, is a gentle soul, and not initially keen on Hattie's plans for him. But as things progress, he begins to perform his role a little too well!

When Hattie herself begins to feel afraid of her creation, she realizes that things have gone too far. But what can she do now? And is it, perhaps, already too late to salvage the situation...