The Robber Girl

Five years before the events of Billingsley's (Chime) fantasy-tinged western, ivory-skinned Robber Girl, 10, who can't speak unless spoken to, was abandoned by her mother. She doesn't remember her name or past--just that Gentleman Jack Royal rescued her and gave her the dagger with which she psychically converses. Per Jack, once they stick up a gold-laden stagecoach, he'll give her a new name and a home; as it turns out, however, their intended target is a trap for Jack, who is wanted for murder. After Jack is arrested, Robber Girl moves in with Judge and Mrs. del Salto in Blue Roses--a town favored by the boon-granting celestial goddess for which it is named. Mrs. del Salto balks at Robber Girl's arrival--the woman still grieves the two children she lost to smallpox, and Robber Girl doesn't want to betray Jack by becoming "tame"--but both come to realize that the town's patron deity works in mysterious ways. Robber Girl's lively, lyrical first-person narration lightens Billingsley's plot, which sensitively explores topics such as trauma, healing, and gratitude. Arguments with the hyper-literal dagger inject humor, the poignant mystery surrounding Robber Girl's pre-Jack life imparts drive, and a subplot involving an enchanted dollhouse adds heart. All characters are cued white. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

In a setting just slightly sideways from the 19th-century American frontier, it's never entirely clear what's the imagination of an almost-feral robber girl and what's the workings of a world where allegory and reality intertwine. . . . Gorgeously written, with ferocious emotion in the caesuras of a sparse, unreliable narrative.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Billingsley creates a fantastical world with rich metaphors and intricate descriptions that evoke and blend all of the senses, wielding language as a metaphor as well as a means to advance the plot. The contrast between the two communities and two life choices are evident in the fully-developed, complex characters. . . . Elements of fantasy, adventure, mystery, and personal identity are expertly interwoven, threaded with symbolism and foreshadowing, and crafted into a compelling tale that begs to be reread for its rich detail.
—School Library Connection (starred review)

Billingsley (The Folk Keeper, BCCB 10/99, Chime, BCCB 2/11) crafts Starling with an intense, lyrical interiority; our heroine's perspective is both focused and transparent, allowing readers to make their own judgments about what she really owes Gentleman Jack and what it means to be wild, to be tame, and to have a family. It's a hefty, subtle book, part fantasy Western, part psychological mystery, beautifully textured with fine-grained sensory and emotional detail and alive with dancing prose that would pair well with Andrews' Spindlefish and Stars (BCCB 9/20).
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books