The Whispers
-
-
4.8 • 10 Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
A middle grade debut that's a heartrending coming-of-age tale, perfect for fans of Bridge to Terabithia and Counting By 7s.
Eleven-year-old Riley believes in the whispers, magical fairies that will grant you wishes if you leave them tributes. Riley has a lot of wishes. He wishes bullies at school would stop picking on him. He wishes Dylan, his 8th grade crush, liked him, and Riley wishes he would stop wetting the bed. But most of all, Riley wishes for his mom to come back home. She disappeared a few months ago, and Riley is determined to crack the case. He even meets with a detective, Frank, to go over his witness statement time and time again.
Frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation, Riley decides to take matters into his own hands. So he goes on a camping trip with his friend Gary to find the whispers and ask them to bring his mom back home. But Riley doesn't realize the trip will shake the foundation of everything that he believes in forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eleven-year-old Riley resorts to extreme measures to find his mother after she disappears, believing he is "suspect number one" in a case that hasn't moved forward in months, the details of which he can't fully recall. He always thought his mother's favorite story, "The Whispers," about magical woodland creatures that can grant wishes, was straight fiction until one night he hears them call "She's here." To find his mother, Riley seeks to recreate the tale, embarking on a camping trip with an endearingly motley cast of friends to enlist the fantasy forces. A running use of vocabulary words that grew out of a game Riley and his mom played both advances the plot and offers nuance to Riley's emotions. Howard effectively layers Riley's character and "conditions" (he has been wetting the bed since his mother disappeared, and his attraction to boys is at odds with his evangelical Christian upbringing), offering clues about his mother's fate that readers will piece together before he does. This touching, often wry novel offers a memorable psychological puzzle and explores grief and acceptance. Ages 10 up.)
