How to Heal a Gryphon

 

How to Heal a Gryphon is a fun and well written fantasy for middle grade readers by Meg Cannistra. Released 4th Oct 2022 by Harper Collins on their Inkyard Press imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.  It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is such an engaging story with a wonderful young protagonist who wants to be a magical veterinarian instead of the healer her entire family expects her to be. She's intelligent, physically strong, kind, and she has a very good work ethic. She's also feeling hemmed in and battered down by everyone's expectations for her; not least of which concern her choice of training - she's from a long line of healers. 

I liked the straightforward storytelling. Young Giada is torn between doing what's expected of her and following her dreams and she doesn't have long to make a decision. I also liked that she's not a willowy thin supergirl who breezes through challenges. She's chubby, and some of her classmates bully her about it. The author doesn't harp on it a great deal, but it appealed to me a lot that she didn't make Giada fat just to "fix" her later in the book. 

The settings are interesting and unusual - the names and places have a distinct Italian vibe and the setting is both fantasy inspired with small modern details such as Giada talking about "doing research online". 

The book is rated as NA/YA, but strikes me as more suited to middle grade readers (ca. 8-12 year olds). 

Four stars. This would be a great choice for public or school library acquisition, gift giving, and home use. 

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