The Ship of Stolen Words
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A group of goblins steal a boy’s ability to apologize in The Ship of Stolen Words, a lively middle-grade fantasy from Nebula Award–winning author Fran Wilde.
No matter how much trouble Sam gets in, he knows that he can always rely on his magic word, “sorry,” to get him out of a pinch. Teasing his little sister too much? Sorry! Hurt someone’s feelings in class? Sorry! Forgot to do his chores? So sorry! But when goblins come and steal his “sorry,” he can’t apologize for anything anymore. To get his “sorry” back and stop the goblins from stealing anyone else’s words, Sam will have to enter the goblins’ world and try and find the depository of stolen words.
There, he meets Tolver, a young goblin who’s always dreamed of adventure. Tolver longs to use the goblin technology—which can turn words into fuel to power ships—to set off and explore, but his grandma warns him that the goblin prospectors will only bring trouble.
Together, Tolver and Sam will have to outsmart the cruel prospectors and save the day before Sam’s parents ground him forever!
“This novel offers rich world-building; a wide cast of well-realized characters, both human and goblin; and all the piracy, mechanical flying pigs, and elaborate goblin traps a reader could hope for.” —School Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wilde (Riverland) explores the meaning of words, intent, and sincerity in a quickly paced portal fantasy that's both imaginative and thoughtful. When a chance encounter with a word-stealing goblin renders 11-and-a-half-year-old Sam Culver, cued as white, incapable of apologizing, he begins to understand language's power. While he's always used "sorry" as an insincere get-out-of-trouble card, he finds himself in hot water when he can't say it for real to his best friend, brown-skinned Mason, after hurting her feelings at school. His attempts to recover the missing phrase lead him through a portal into the marshlands, where carelessly used and misplaced words mined from Earth are used for myriad purposes, including technological advancement and industrialization. Now Sam must work with Tolver, the goblin who took his regrets, to stop a ruthless cabal of word prospectors before they swipe every empty utterance from his home. Sam's attempts to repair his friendship with Mason, bond with five-year-old sister Bella, and learn to trust Tolver emphasize friends and family, while Wilde's depiction of the marshlands' struggle with ethical sustainability presents a fascinating setting worth further development. A great tale for any word-loving adventure seeker. Ages 8–12.
