How to Save a Queendom

by Jessica Lawson (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

From critically acclaimed author Jessica Lawson comes a whimsical fantasy about an orphaned twelve-year-old girl who is called upon to save her queendom when she finds a tiny wizard in her pocket.

Life's never been kind to twelve-year-old Stub. Orphaned and left in the care of the cruel Matron Tratte, Stub's learned that the best way to keep the peace is to do as she's told. No matter that she's bullied and that her only friend is her pet chicken, Peck, Stub's accepted the fact that her life just isn't made for adventure. Then she finds a tiny wizard in her pocket. Orlen, the royal wizard to Maradon's queen, is magically bound to Stub. And it's up to her to ferry Orlen back to Maradon Cross, the country's capital, or else the delicate peace of the queendom will crumble under the power of an evil wizard queen.

Suddenly Stub's unexciting life is chock-full of adventure. But how can one orphan girl possibly save the entire queendom?

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ALA/Booklist

The terrifying details (tree-climbing wolves!), fast friendships, and a hefty dose of magic weave together into a wonderfully enchanting adventure.

Publishers Weekly

Enchanted snakes, gator-infested swamps, and vicious birds await narrator Stub-the-Nuisance, a 12-year-old orphan, when she agrees to journey to Maradon Cross before Queen Sonora's festive Peace Day. Stub, a mistreated and illiterate tavern apprentice whose only friend is a chicken, finds herself magically bound to the Queen's wizard, Orlen. Rendered no taller than a thumb after a spell backfires, Orlen relies on Stub to help rescue Queen Sonora, believed to be in danger. Together with brown-skinned apprentice chef Beaman Cork, Stub and Orlen, both white, traverse perilous mountains en route to Maradon. Disguising themselves as workers in the Queen's castle, Stub and Beaman learn that the 100-year peace pact between Maradon's kingdom and another, Wintrel, comes with a hefty price tag. And with their help, the queen must decide how to use newly discovered gifts to save Maradon. This jam-packed fantasy from Lawson (Under the Bottle Bridge) brims with delicious language--"humming honey," "blue smoke smackers"--while enchanting characters, rich worldbuilding, and energetic pacing frame its rousing action. Ages 8-12. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM Partners. (Apr.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Jessica Lawson
Jessica Lawson is the author of The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher, a book that Publishers Weekly called "a delightfully clever debut" in a starred review, and Nooks & Crannies, a Junior Library Guild Selection and recipient of three starred reviews. She is also the author of Waiting for Augusta, Under the Bottle Bridge, and How to Save a Queendom. You can visit her at JessicaLawsonBooks.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781534414341
Lexile Measure
630
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date
April 20, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV012030 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | General
JUV022000 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, & Fables | General
Library of Congress categories
Adventure and adventurers
Adventure stories
Orphans
Fantasy
Fantasy fiction
Wizards

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