The Shelterlings

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Description

A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powersand themselveswhen they work together to thwart a villains attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeatHolly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as shelterlings.

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.

Reviews

[A] clever squirrel embarks on a journey of self-discovery [in] an amusing, fast-paced fantasy. Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Sarah Beth Durst is the author of ten fantasy novels for adults, teens, and children, including The Lost, Vessel, and The Girl Who Could Not Dream. She was awarded the 2013 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she spent four years studying English, writing about dragons, and wondering what the campus gargoyles would say if they could talk. Sarah lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband and children. Visit her at www.sarahbethdurst.com.