Are you willing to live your life by: ‘Less worrying, more daring’?

The Midnighters

Author: Hana Tooke @hannekewrites

Illustrator: Ayesha L Rubio @AyeshaRubio

Published by: Penguin @PenguinUKBooks

Published on: 11th May 2023

Price: £7.99

ISBN: 978 0 241 41749 2

First line: It was a night so dusky that the streetlamps looked like fallen stars.

Genre: Fantasy

Age: 9+

What’s it all about? A young, nervous girl called Ema, who is searching desperately for her place in life, is left to fend for herself while staying at her Uncle’s house, when, first all her siblings and then her parents leave home for different reasons. She soon discovers another lost soul, Silvie, who is befriending bats, and both soon become firm friends as the trust between them starts to grow. Silvie helps Ema to open up to a world of possibilities and Ema helps Silvie to trust someone for the first time in a long time. However, one day, Silvie disappears and it is up to Ema to find her. Who are the mysterious Midnight Guild and where have they hidden Silvie?

Why should I read it? Now, everyone should believe a wizard right? Well in this case, Gandalf was wrong, the author is no foolish Took (sic ‘e’). Even though I’m not a big fan of the style of the cover (it is beautifully drawn though), I think I loved this book from the very first line (see above). The powerful description continues apace inside, as if the author truly is, in love with words and language. I loved this line with the contrast in meaning (I’m sure this technique has a name, but I can’t remember it!): ‘where she spent the rest of the day observing the thunderous quiet with ringing ears’. The whole story is written in a particular style of writing which is brilliant: where you don’t get the whole picture from the character as they can’t understand it yet, but as a reader you can start to work out what is really happening, and it reminds me a lot of some other brilliant authors (this is not a bad thing!). For example, Ema says: ‘why are you smiling if you’re so sad?’ Authors such as: Frances Hardinge and ‘The Lie Tree’; Matt Killeen and ‘Orphan Monster Spy’; Holly Goldberg Sloan and ‘The Elephant in the Room’; and Francesca Gibbons and ‘Clock of Stars’ use a similar rhetoric. I love how Ema speaks to the wind that blows around her bedroom, almost like Philip Pullman’s daemons or a classic Disney film character, allowing her thoughts to spoken out loud to the reader. The beginning of the story is a bit like a fairy tale with each child having a special skill and then the baby being passed down, down and down through the siblings and the years as a new responsibility. I have to say, I’m only just over half way through the book, and Ema and her new friends are only just starting to find out where Silvie is, but I’m sure I will love the end just as much as the beginning. What a great read! I’m going to adopt the line, ‘Less worrying, more daring’ as my new way to live life!

Thanks to LoveReading4Schools for the review copy.