About the book
All 12-year-old Marinka wants is a friend. A real friend. Not like her house with chicken legs. Sure, the house can play games like tag and hide-and-seek, but Marinka longs for a human companion. Someone she can talk to and share secrets with.
But that’s tough when your grandmother is a Yaga, a guardian who guides the dead into the afterlife. It’s even harder when you live in a house that wanders all over the world . . . carrying you with it. Even worse, Marinka is being trained to be a Yaga. That means no school, no parties–and no playmates that stick around for more than a day.
So when Marinka stumbles across the chance to make a real friend, she breaks all the rules . . . with devastating consequences. Her beloved grandmother mysteriously disappears, and it’s up to Marinka to find her–even if it means making a dangerous journey to the afterlife.
With a mix of whimsy, humor, and adventure, this debut novel will wrap itself around your heart and never let go.
Published by Usborne Publishing
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MY REVIEW
What an utterly gorgeous book – inside and out! The perfect book for readers of all ages!! I devoured this magical story of Marinka and her quest to be normal – very difficult in the world she lives in!
This is a re-telling of the Baba Yaga folk tale with its’ own unique twists, and it’s a book I could imagine making the perfect Studio Ghibli film as the premise of a house that can move around at will and has feelings , whilst the Baba Yaga is there to help those who have passed on make it safely through the gates.
But Marinka wants more from her life – she wants friends to hang out but that isn’t her destiny, so when she takes things into her own hands to suit her own needs it leads to some devastating consequences.
I loved the setting, the beautifully illustrated pages and wonderful way that this story was told. It is full of so much magic and fantasy and explores tenderly the importance of honesty, friendship and the subject of death. Absolute gem of a book and I look forward to more from this author in the future as she has a wonderful gift for storytelling!
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Books and Me! 