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Strange Creatures

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

From acclaimed author Phoebe North comes a riveting, unexpected, and beautiful contemporary novel about a girl whose brother mysteriously disappears, the family and friends he leaves behind, and the stories—real and imagined—that they tell themselves to fill the empty space.

From the moment that Annie was born, she and her older brother, Jamie, were inseparable. Alike in almost every way, they promised to always take care of each other while facing the challenges of growing up different in suburban America. And when life became too much for them, they created their own space in the woods behind their house: a fantasy world, called Gumlea, where no one else could find them.

And it was enough, for a while. But then came middle school, when Jamie grew dark and distant. He found new friends, a girlfriend, and a life away from Annie and Gumlea. Soon it was as if she hardly knew the brother who was her other half.

And then, one day, he disappears.

Annie, her family, and the entire community are devastated. And as the days turn into months turn into years, everyone begins to accept that Jamie is gone for good. Everyone, that is, except Annie, who believes that Jamie, somehow, has entered Gumlea, and who believes that she's the only one who can bring him back.

But as Annie searches for answers and finds a new relationship with a girl she did not expect, she makes startling discoveries about her brother's disappearance—and has to decide how much of herself she's willing to give up in order to keep hope alive.

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    • Kirkus

      April 15, 2021
      Annie turns to childhood make-believe to cope with devastating events. When they were small, Annie and her older brother, Jamie, invented the fantastical world of Gumlea where Annie became the Emperata Annit and Jamie was first Prince Jamin and, later, the Nameless Boy, the one who was different--in this made-up world as well as in reality. Gumlea soon became an escape as Jamie struggled with parental gender expectations and Annie felt a void growing between them. Thirteen-year-old Jamie's sudden disappearance leaves Gumlea as 12-year-old Annie's only link to her brother--and it functions for her as a coping mechanism as she holds out hope over the years that she can find him. Gumlea's role as a reflection of the main plot seems disjointed at times: The epilogue (which appears at the beginning of the book) and prologue (which comes at the end) are both set there, but they have no clear connection with the main plot, unlike other scenes which clearly serve as mirrors to events taking place in this world. Gumlea is fleshed out well enough that it could serve as the focus of a stand-alone story, but in this context, it never really gets its time to shine. The central storyline, meanwhile, stretches past its natural cathartic endpoint, feeling stretched thin by the finish. Annie and Jamie have a Jewish mother and Christian father; main characters default to White, and there is queer representation in the book. An ambitious novel that doesn't quite coalesce. (Fiction. 14-18)

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • School Library Journal

      Starred review from May 1, 2021

      Gr 9 Up-Fantasy, trauma, abuse, and grief are explored through the lives of white Jewish siblings who feel they are a soul shared between two bodies, their lives and minds braided together in ways that seem otherworldly. Annie and Jamie live the truest versions of their lives in Gumlea, a safe, sacred fantasy world in the woods behind their house, where they encounter harpies, mermaids, and feral children. In the real world, they don't fit right. Jamie learns to turn off his feelings and go along to get along. Annie doesn't mind being abrasive and strange, but worries she's losing Jamie. When Jamie disappears as a young teen, Annie's world is shattered. She becomes consumed with the idea that Jamie must somehow be trapped in Gumlea-she can see him there, with ships and pirates and ropes, their sanctuary now a prison. After Annie begins to date Indian American Vidya, Jamie's ex-girlfriend, she descends into what looks like madness, gathering supplies for a ritual to open the Veil and bring Jamie back so she can be whole again. The story follows them from birth through Annie's college years. Chapters begin with bits of their Gumlea stories, which serve as allegory and revelation. Narration is shared by Jamie, Annie, and Vidya to powerful effect. Readers will puzzle over just where the reality is in all the fantasy as they delve deeper into the siblings' richly imagined paracosm. VERDICT A devastatingly tragic and deeply immersive masterpiece.-Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elem. Sch., Rosemount, MN

      Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from May 15, 2021
      Grades 10-12 *Starred Review* North's quietly devastating novel about a family coping with trauma, seen through the lenses of two vulnerable siblings and the girl they both love, is beautifully written but emotionally difficult. Annie and Jaime, born a year apart, use fantasy to escape the expectations of parents and peers. In the real world, brash Annie feels invisible next to Jaime, who is popular and their parents' favorite, while poetic Jaime, to all appearances happy, is being crushed by their father's enforced masculinity. In Gumlea, accessed through the woods behind their house, they are free and powerful, swimming with mermaids, battling harpies and pirates, and always, always together. Gumlea becomes a wedge between them as they grow older, but it takes on new significance when Jaime disappears at age 13. Sure that he is waiting in Gumlea, Annie dives back into the fantasy, recruiting Jaime's once-girlfriend Vidya and falling for her, too. Narratively, events in Gumlea mirror their real lives but in an increasingly fractured way, its magic not enough to defeat real-world horrors. This juxtaposition isn't always successful, but it creates some heartbreaking, cathartic moments. This bildungsroman is layered, imaginative, and compelling; with its contemplative tone, especially as the characters reach adulthood, it's also a strong adult crossover.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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