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Book Cover for: Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger

Elatsoe

Darcie Little Badger

Nominee:Nebula Award -Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (2020)
Finalist:Lodestar Award for Best YA Book - (2021)

One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback!

A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Ellie, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and its dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

The breathtaking debut novel from Darcie Little Badger features an asexual, Apache teen protagonist--and combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements, in one of the most-talked-about books in years.

AWARDS

Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel
A National Indie Bestseller
Nebula Award Finalist
Lodestar Award Finalist
Ignyte Award Finalist
American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist

P R A I S E

"Groundbreaking." --TIME

"Deeply enjoyable from start to finish."--NPR

"Utterly magical." --SyFyWire

"Atmospheric and lyrical...a gorgeous work of art."--BuzzFeed

"One of the best YA debuts of 2020. Read it."--Marieke Nijkamp

★ "A fresh voice and perspective."--Booklist (starred)

★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage (starred)

★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus (starred)

★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness (starred)

BEST OF THE YEAR

NPR - Buzzfeed - BookPage - Chicago Public Library - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus - Shelf Awareness - Reactor - Booklist

Book Details

  • Publisher: Levine Querido
  • Publish Date: Aug 25th, 2020
  • Pages: 368
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.30in - 5.70in - 1.30in - 1.54lb
  • EAN: 9781646140053
  • Recommended age: 12-18
  • Categories: Native AmericanMysteries & Detective StoriesParanormal, Occult & Supernatural

About the Author

Darcie Little Badger is an Earth scientist, writer, and fan of the weird, beautiful, and haunting. She is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. Her Locus Award-winning debut novel, Elatsoe, was a National Indie Bestseller, named to over a dozen best-of-year lists, and called one of the Best 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time by TIME. Her second novel, A Snake Falls to Earth was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and received a Newbery Award Honor.

Rovina Cai is a freelance illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. She works out of an old convent building that is possibly haunted. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and the Children's Book Council of Australia. Recently she has illustrated books by Patrick Ness and Margo Lanagan. Instagram @rovinacai

Praise for this book

"The 100 Fantasy Books of All Time" - TIME
"[A] refreshing voice. Indigenous myths, modern-day technology, and the supernatural successfully blend to build a fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Beautiful. Sinister. Deeply enjoyable from start to finish." - NPR
"A brilliant, engaging debut... It seamlessly blends cyberstalking with Vampire Citizen Centers and Lipan Apache stories." - KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)
"Creative and meticulously plotted... a Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." - SHELF-AWARENESS starred review
"Groundbreaking." --TIME
"A fresh voice and perspective, weaving in folktales, omens, and urban legends of the protagonist's Lipan Apache culture." - BOOKLIST (starred review)
"A strong heroine, a supernatural mystery and a unique and powerful Native American voice."-BOOKPAGE (starred review)
"Utterly magical." - SYFYWIRE
★ "This absorbing and haunting speculative fiction debut challenges expectations at every turn."- HORN BOOK (starred review)