Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Mid-late Elementary, Middle School

Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings: encounter mythical beasts, magic (lore), adventure, and a quest for identity as an 11-year old orphan learns the truth about a people and a world he had been taught to fear. He eventually faces the creature that killed his parents, and comes to overcome his anger over their deaths.

I like this one because whether accidental or not, I see some huge spiritual parallels, namely with regard to the uselessness of rules and religion, and how these rules often come from people blind to the spiritual reality. I also like how there is essentially no romance.

Potential concerns:

  • You won’t like this one if you’re against magic, fantastic (literally) beasts, and battles between lore-keepers (i.e. people who harness the magic and tame the beasts).
  • The main character, Barclay, is an orphan who struggles to belong in the rule-driven culture that shuns the lore-keepers. Against his will, becomes one of the lore-keepers that he was taught to fear, and is soon driven out of his home and away from the only “family” he has ever known. He battles his new identity and eventually learns to discover and accept that the lore-keeper world is where he truly belongs.
  • Conservatives on family structure might not like mention of the librarian’s wife, which based on pronouns would make her queer. The librarian is one of the kindest characters in Barclay’s hometown
  • The author describes skin color more often or prominently than I think is really necessary.