The impossible destiny of Cutie Grackle

Gr 3--7--Part suspense, part mystery, part adventure, and all intrigue, this is an engrossing story set in the rural mountains of West Virginia, where the closest neighbor is 15 miles away. Ten-year-old Cutie Grackle leads an abnormal life, complete with a shack on top of a mountain that she calls home, an uncle as a guardian who is never present, and a curse that has been around for decades. Cutie has to grow up quickly and become the "adult" in her home. Since her parents are gone and her uncle is not always lucid, Cutie becomes self-dependent and tries to meet her own needs, though she is fortunate to have the help of one kind mentor who takes her to visit the local food pantry each month. She is so lonely she creates friends out of inanimate objects, such as a garden gnome. Readers will sympathize with the conditions of Cutie's home life. She knows nothing of her father and has only been given the name of her mother, though she knows there is some type of curse connected to her and possibly to her disappearance. Will Cutie be able to figure out the curse and find a way to break it? Will her luck and life circumstances change, or will she be stuck on the desolate mountain top, with a hunger for food and friends, forever? VERDICT A compelling hybrid tale of realistic survival and supernatural adventure; fans of Kate DiCamillo will enjoy the style of writing in this unique middle grade novel.--Megan Honeycutt

A hardscrabble child tries to reverse the curse that's turned her mother into a raven. It takes Cutie Grackle, 10, a while to figure out why the birds are following her. She's got enough to worry about, what with her Uncle Horace, with whom she lives in a shack atop a West Virginia mountain, getting ever more disoriented, the kindly cafeteria worker who gives her a ride to the food pantry leaving town, and rumors of a curse that caused her parents and others to disappear. But when a raven drops a fortune from a cookie at her feet, Cutie slides into a vision of her long-lost mama and begins to understand not only what caused the curse, but how it might be reversed--if she can manage to do it in time. Told primarily through Cutie's unsparing point of view (with occasional asides from the ravens) and fully at home in its Appalachian setting, the novel treats poverty, loss, and the magical with matter-of-fact acceptance and admits to some nuance in its portrayals. Cutie's voice never falters. There are times when the plot points around the curse are confusing but not enough so that readers will lose interest, and the ending feels like a victory earned. All characters are White. Millgram's raven spot art and a map of Cutie and Horace's home of Smite Mountain enhance the text. An intriguing story from an author who deserves more acclaim. (Fabulism. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.