A Game of Fox and Squirrels

A Game of Fox and Squirrels is a novel for middle grade readers by Jenn Reese. Due out 14th April 2020 on Macmillan's Henry Holt imprint, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a very well written touching and often heartbreaking story about the meaning of family, courage, honesty, stability, trauma, and growing up. There are several interwoven stories told on different levels.

This was a difficult book to read and review. The narrative is very well written but the themes of domestic violence, abuse, psychological abuse and parental failure are rough going and can be triggering for some readers. 11 year old Samantha and her 14 year old sister Caitlin were removed from their family home in California by protective services after serious (sustained) episodic violence. They're sent to live with their aunt in Oregon. The aunt represents a loving, stable, if non-traditional home and the book is chiefly concerned with detailing working through their trauma and forging a new family life. Most of this plot is not directly written down. The previous (multi-generational) trauma is alluded to in italicized flashes. Most of the action in the story is wrapped around a magical realism quest story-line, with young Samantha trying to find a golden acorn to make her dreams come true. The quests and the rules keep changing and Sam's trying to figure out what her fondest dreams really are and how to write her own story at the same time she's dealing with her own scary feelings.

This would make a good fantasy read for more mature middle readers. If it's being read as a story time type read, the adult/caregiver should expect some difficult questions which will require a certain sensitivity. I also appreciated the depiction of a loving and stable home-life and family who were outside the mainstream (her aunt has a wife who is also kind and loving to the girls). It's not a huge deal in the book, nor should it be.

This is a really phenomenally well written book which deals with difficult subjects sensitively, compassionately, and in a manner which will be accessible to young readers.

Five stars. Difficult themes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.