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The Resource Guest : a changeling tale, Mary Downing Hahn

Guest : a changeling tale, Mary Downing Hahn

Creator
Author
Summary
Young Mollie traverses eerie, perilous lands to retrieve her baby brother, Thomas, from the Kinde Folke, malicious sprites who snatched him and left a hideous changeling in his place
Language
eng
Work
Instance
Label
Guest : a changeling tale
Title
Guest
Title remainder
a changeling tale
Statement of responsibility
Mary Downing Hahn
Title variation
Changeling tale
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Young Mollie traverses eerie, perilous lands to retrieve her baby brother, Thomas, from the Kinde Folke, malicious sprites who snatched him and left a hideous changeling in his place
Pace
Tone
Writing style
Character
Review
  • Grades 5-7 After Mollie makes a seemingly insignificant comment about her baby brother, the Kinde Folke steal Thomas and replace him with a changeling. Mollie's parents want to abandon the biting, screaming infant at the crossroads outside of town, but a wise old woman tells them not to. After many months, the changeling (whom Mollie named Guest) has grown incredibly fast, draining Mollie's mother and driving her father to abandon them all. Mollie decides that it is up to her to seek out the Kinde Folke and force them to reverse the exchange. But as she and Guest encounter deception and hardship, journeying deep into the forest, Mollie realizes that she is developing a genuine connection to Guest, and she's not sure if she can let him go after all. Although the narrative feels somewhat shallow, and there is an overabundance of adjectives, Hahn (The Girl in the Locked Room, 2018) dreams up a delightfully chilling tale of magic and mythology, exploring themes of love, friendship, chosen family, and overcoming one's deepest fears. -- Rob Bittner (Reviewed 7/26/2019) (Booklist, vol 115, number 21)
  • Gr 4–7—It's Mollie's fault when the Kinde Folke (a group of spiteful fairies who are neither delicate nor kind) kidnap her brother and leave Guest in his place—a sickly fairy halfling who does nothing but bite, pinch, eat…and tear her family apart. Eventually, a desperate Mollie treks to the Darklands with Guest in tow, determined to make the fairies give her brother back now that Guest is healthy again. Everyone they meet along the way has their own secret agenda, but worst of all is the Queen of the Kinde Folke. And Mollie's brother, once discovered, has no wish to leave his new family to return to a life of poverty with his old one. Can Mollie's bravery make up for her habit of speaking before she thinks? This tale by Hahn, notable for her "just right" scary stories for the upper elementary school crowd, is somewhat different than her usual offerings, veering more toward fantasy than horror. The creepy atmosphere and Mollie's determination offset her rather slow-moving journey to the Darklands, and the absence of neat endings lends a touch of reality. VERDICT A solid purchase for upper elementary school students who like a dark tale grounded in myth.—Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX --Elizabeth Friend (Reviewed 09/01/2019) (School Library Journal, vol 65, issue 8, p114)
  • In a striking departure from her more familiar ghost stories, Hahn (The Girl in the Locked Room) draws from Irish folklore to tell a darkly haunting tale. Mollie has grown up in a comfortable home in a village guarded by chilling superstitions. Local legends warn of the Kinde Folke, beings known to steal human babies and replace them with vile changelings. When Mollie removes her baby brother’s protective necklace given to him by Granny Hedgepath, who is rumored to be a witch, Thomas promptly disappears, and a goblinlike creature is left in his place. Mollie leaves the village with the changeling child, whom she names “Guest,” in hopes of finding the elusive Kinde Folke and pleading with them to exchange Guest for Thomas. Hahn blends sinister magic and unexpected tenderness as Mollie’s relationship with the changeling child—who grows at a preternatural rate, quickly learning to walk and talk—evolves from spiteful to sympathetic and, finally, to loving and protective. Magical forces and frightening figures lurk throughout Hahn’s story, which pays tribute to its source material while maintaining a quality of emotional rawness and originality. Ages 10–12. (Sept.)
			 --Staff (Reviewed 09/02/2019) (Publishers Weekly, vol 266, issue 35, p)
  • Hahn, that master of middle-grade horror, turns her attention to the fairy folk. Mollie Cloverall loves her baby brother, Thomas. Despite her community's warnings and customs, she can't help but tell him what a good baby he is and how beautiful he is. The Kinde Folke, who are anything but kind, overhear her praise and wait for Mollie to borrow Thomas' iron locket, the only thing keeping him safe. Within moments Thomas has been replaced with a changeling, an ugly, ill-tempered creature who soon wears out Mollie's mother and drives her father away. Mollie decides to take the changeling, whom her mother calls Guest, back from whence he came and bring the real Thomas home. With the help of a mysterious man named Madog, this somewhat-unlikable heroine battles Pookas and other creatures of Celtic lore to win back her brother in spite of her growing affection for Guest. Readers hoping for the chills of Wait Till Helen Comes (1986) will not find them here, but this is a fast-paced, suspenseful, surprising tale of evil fairies and family loyalty. "Travelers" are portrayed as slightly ominous, part-fairy figures despite their status as an actual and marginalized community in Ireland; Mollie's village of Lower Hexham doesn't seem to be based on any real place, but Hahn's afterword places the story within an older, presumably all-white Irish context. A fun and creepy read. (Fantasy. 8-12) (Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2019)
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
10797081
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Hahn, Mary Downing
Dewey number
[Fic]
Index
no index present
LC call number
PZ7.H1256
Literary form
fiction
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/minGradeLevel
  • 4
  • 7
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Changelings
  • Brothers and sisters
Target audience
juvenile
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
a changeling tale
Label
Guest : a changeling tale, Mary Downing Hahn
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
22 cm
Extent
220 pages
Isbn
9780358067313
Lccn
2018059112
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Label
Guest : a changeling tale, Mary Downing Hahn
Publication
Copyright
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
22 cm
Extent
220 pages
Isbn
9780358067313
Lccn
2018059112
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n

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