The Lost Girl
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Three starred reviews
A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2019
Anne Ursu, author of the National Book Award nominee The Real Boy, returns with a story of the power of fantasy, the limits of love, and the struggles inherent in growing up.
When you’re an identical twin, your story always starts with someone else. For Iris, that means her story starts with Lark.
Iris has always been the grounded, capable, and rational one; Lark has been inventive, dreamy, and brilliant—and from their first moments in the world together, they’ve never left each other’s side. Everyone around them realized early on what the two sisters already knew: they had better outcomes when they were together.
When fifth grade arrives, however, it's decided that Iris and Lark should be split into different classrooms, and something breaks in them both.
Iris is no longer so confident; Lark retreats into herself as she deals with challenges at school. And at the same time, something strange is happening in the city around them, things both great and small going missing without a trace.
As Iris begins to understand that anything can be lost in the blink of an eye, she decides it’s up to her to find a way to keep her sister safe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twin sisters Iris and Lark are "identical, but not the same." Iris is down-to-earth; Lark has her head in the clouds. The girls have always looked after each other, and when they are placed in different classrooms and after-school activities (art camp for Lark, a library girls' group for Iris) during fifth grade, they are devastated. Nothing feels right to Iris, whose dismay is exacerbated by a series of unsettling events: meeting the peculiar owner of an antique shop who claims he's doing magic, noticing objects gone missing from the twins' home, and being followed by a giant crow. The occurrences connect to a dark secret that proves dangerous to Iris and could separate the twins forever. As intriguing as it is eerie, this imaginative tale by Ursu (The Real Boy) is told from the point of view of the crow, who observes Iris's actions and emotions as she faces life and peril, for the first time without her sister. This suspenseful mystery offers a story of empowerment, showing how one girl with the help of others can triumph. Ages 8 12.)
