“If you would take the time to listen to them,” Baba repeats calmly, “then you would hear their stories. Their lives would add to yours, and stay with you forever.” – 4.75/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: chicken legs, baby lambs, wood cracks, beautiful dresses, powdered milk, human bones, friends, the afterlife and beautiful illustrations.

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.

I became a fan of middle grade books a few years ago, and I especially became a big fan of Sophie Anderson’s books after reading “The Castle of Tangled Magic”. Sophie Anderson’s books may appeal to you because of how beautiful the covers are, but you will fall in love with her stories and you will come back for more!

This book blew me away with how amazing it was. Not only was the story beautiful and full of magic, but it was very well written with a solid story with great meaning. Not only that but you also get a lot of references to Russian culture in this particular book! So I learned a few new words!

As always the illustrations that work alongside the story are amazing and capture beautifully the essence of the story. The book wouldn’t be the same without them and I’m glad she worked with this amazing artist to bring the story to life!

The ONLY reason why I’m not giving this 5 stars is because I can’t get over the heartbreak the book gave me – if you read the book, you probably know what I’m talking about. I completely understand why the story goes through that path, but it really hurt me as a reader to go through all that – and yes, I cried!

This is probably my favorite middle grade book of all time and I highly recommend it if you like a good story with depth and meaning behind it. I can’t stress this enough: if you like middle grade books, you need this in your life!