Review: A Game of Fox and Squirrels
A Game of Fox and Squirrels by Jenn Reese
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Andre Norton finalist Jenn Reese, a children's fantasy author, steps into a contemporary children's lit story with elements of magical realism. Samantha and her sister Caitlyn have been removed from their parents' custody because of physical and psychological abuse. They've been sent to live with their Aunt Vicky and her wife Hannah. While Caitlyn seems to decompress in their home, Sam struggles to adjust to her new reality. She's sure she'd going to be allowed to return to her familiar life any day now. She's reluctant to make a new friend in Lucas, the son of her aunt's work partner. She doesn't see why she needs to be registered for school in Oregon when she lives in California and her best friend BriAnn is probably wondering what is going on with her and where she is. Aunt Vicky introduces Sam to the Game of Fox and Squirrels, a fantasy card game with a slick fox named Ashander and a group of squirrels including Maple, Birch, and Cedar. When a very real Ashander shows up in Sam's room, he offers her the chance to find a golden acorn, which can fulfill any wish Sam might have, like say, going home to her parents. While she pursues the acorn, Sam slowly, almost unwillingly, begins to see the reality of the life she had been living with her parents, and what sacrifices Caitlyn made to protect her younger sister. She also learns, with the help of Vicky and Hannah, what a healthy family can look like.
Limning a brutal family reality and the fantasy world that helps Sam come to terms with her father's abuse and mother's complicity, Reese has done a simply amazing job creating a novel that children and adults will both relate to. This is a novel that slides the knife to the heart in so smoothly and softly at times, in all the little ways that you see Sam justifying the life she and Cait were living, making excuses for her father.
The audiobook, narrated by Sarah Franco, is lovely.
I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Andre Norton finalist Jenn Reese, a children's fantasy author, steps into a contemporary children's lit story with elements of magical realism. Samantha and her sister Caitlyn have been removed from their parents' custody because of physical and psychological abuse. They've been sent to live with their Aunt Vicky and her wife Hannah. While Caitlyn seems to decompress in their home, Sam struggles to adjust to her new reality. She's sure she'd going to be allowed to return to her familiar life any day now. She's reluctant to make a new friend in Lucas, the son of her aunt's work partner. She doesn't see why she needs to be registered for school in Oregon when she lives in California and her best friend BriAnn is probably wondering what is going on with her and where she is. Aunt Vicky introduces Sam to the Game of Fox and Squirrels, a fantasy card game with a slick fox named Ashander and a group of squirrels including Maple, Birch, and Cedar. When a very real Ashander shows up in Sam's room, he offers her the chance to find a golden acorn, which can fulfill any wish Sam might have, like say, going home to her parents. While she pursues the acorn, Sam slowly, almost unwillingly, begins to see the reality of the life she had been living with her parents, and what sacrifices Caitlyn made to protect her younger sister. She also learns, with the help of Vicky and Hannah, what a healthy family can look like.
Limning a brutal family reality and the fantasy world that helps Sam come to terms with her father's abuse and mother's complicity, Reese has done a simply amazing job creating a novel that children and adults will both relate to. This is a novel that slides the knife to the heart in so smoothly and softly at times, in all the little ways that you see Sam justifying the life she and Cait were living, making excuses for her father.
The audiobook, narrated by Sarah Franco, is lovely.
I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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