The Rat Queen

August 15, 2022
Annie has always wanted to visit Litvania, but the trip, when she finally goes, reveals a sordid family history and a need for reparations. Motherless, home-schooled Annike Klimas was raised in America on Litvanian folklore, which features lots of rats. When she turns 10, Papa tells her that it's a family tradition--and secret--that she begin feeding the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Writing down her bad deeds and dropping the notes into the burna, a hole in the floor, will help relieve her conscience. Papa does it and is rejuvenated afterward, but Annie resists--it deadens her experiences, and she wants to feel both the good and the bad. Also, she stops growing taller every time she feeds the burna. Slowly revealed hints about Papa's questionable character combined with unsettling fairy tales embedded throughout the story create a menacing atmosphere and foreshadow events. Annie, trying to discover the source of the burna's magic, finds a plague of rats--and accidentally burns down their home. Now her father seems to be dying. He demands they travel to Litvania to petition Queen Zurka to extend his life. There, Annie discovers the depth of her father's betrayals, leading to a moral quandary: Does Papa deserve a second chance? Remorse, honor, and forgiveness are just some of the themes in this creepy, symbolically rich saga featuring a default White cast from a fictional Baltic nation. Complex and provocative. (author's note, glossary) (Fantasy. 9-13)

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August 15, 2022
This folktale-based mystery from Hautman (Road Tripped) centers Annike “Annie” Klimas, raised by her single father, who, along with the housekeeper who homeschools her, hails from the Queendom of Litvania—a tiny Baltic country that others insist doesn’t exist. When her landlord father comes home each day, he appears old and haggard, but emerges mysteriously young and vibrant from his tower study only an hour later. On Annie’s 10th birthday—“the age of the conscience, when bad things begin to eat at your soul”—her father reveals a magic cure for guilt. To wash away such feelings, Annie must only write down her regrets and feed the papers into the household’s secret nuodeema burna—the eater of sins. But Annie dislikes the way this action seems to stop her growing, and as she becomes increasingly frustrated by being kept out of school and losing a best friend, she begins puzzling over a neighborhood rat infestation that her father seems intent on feeding. It takes a trip to Litvania for Annie to find answers in this intricately plotted, atmospherically sinister novel that interweaves portentous Litvanian fairy tales with intriguing, white-cued modern-day characters. Ages 9–12.

November 1, 2022
In this spooky fantasy, Annie finds a book of folktales from Litvania, her parents' homeland, and begins reading magical stories filled with clever girls and menacing beasts. For her tenth birthday, Annie's father gives her paper on which she is supposed to write her bad thoughts and actions and then feed the paper to the nuodeema burna, or the sin-eater, under the floorboards of her father's study. Once she begins participating in this Litvanian tradition, she ceases to grow, and the rats that have been plaguing the neighborhood get bolder still. Sinister family secrets, such as a never-aging father and a mother who'd mysteriously disappeared, come to the surface with the hordes of vermin that take to the town. Annie must restore order to her community -- and all of Litvania as well. Her adventures are bound to find an eager audience in readers who value determination and moral fortitude in the face of an increasingly confusing grown-up world. Sarah Berman

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from August 1, 2022
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Rats scurry through Annie's dreams, turning them into nightmares, but she cannot explain their presence. Hautman teases Annie and readers with their unseen presence, injecting a quiet dread into the layered story that follows. Annie is proud of her Litvanian heritage, despite the fact that this tiny Baltic nation is often omitted from standard globes and maps. On the eve of her tenth birthday, Annie's father tells her, "in Litvania, 10 is a magical age. It is the age of the conscience, when bad things begin to eat at your soul. Tomorrow . . . I will introduce you to the nuodeema burna." Using the nuodeema burna requires Annie to write the day's mistakes on paper and feed it to the burna, which magically erases them from her conscience. Annie's not quite sold on the practice but does it to please her father. A tutor from Litvania and an old book of Litvanian fairy tales start to open Annie's eyes to her family history, her disturbing dreams, and the value of feeling the consequences of one's actions. Through exemplary storytelling, Hautman builds a fairy tale within a fairy tale, interspersing stories from Annie's book throughout and creating a captivating world in Litvania. Like most stories of this nature, there are dark corners to explore and challenging lessons to be learned, but the overall effect is magical.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2022
In this spooky fantasy, Annie finds a book of folktales from Litvania, her parents' homeland, and begins reading magical stories filled with clever girls and menacing beasts. For her tenth birthday, Annie's father gives her paper on which she is supposed to write her bad thoughts and actions and then feed the paper to the nuodeema burna, or the sin-eater, under the floorboards of her father's study. Once she begins participating in this Litvanian tradition, she ceases to grow, and the rats that have been plaguing the neighborhood get bolder still. Sinister family secrets, such as a never-aging father and a mother who'd mysteriously disappeared, come to the surface with the hordes of vermin that take to the town. Annie must restore order to her community -- and all of Litvania as well. Her adventures are bound to find an eager audience in readers who value determination and moral fortitude in the face of an increasingly confusing grown-up world.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)