Owl lives with her uncle on a maple farm in a remote village. She is an expert on sugaring season and balances her farm responsibilities with school. With people her age she always feels a little out of place due to her partial deafness caused by a traumatic past with her father. During sugaring season, her uncle must hire help and that comes in the form of a handsome teen stranger. The two bond over their traumatic pasts and help each other grow as they learn more about one another’s emotional baggage.
This is a book about recovering from trauma, discovering your self worth and using your voice. Owl is the perfect mix of vulnerable and strong willed. Her confidence in her role in the natural world was a good balance to her uncertainty and social awkwardness with other people. We get to see her coming of age and learning in the most visceral way about the nature of people and that no one is all good or all bad. She knows she must face her past traumas and her life as a differently abled person. I liked the heart of this one although I wanted a little more from the ending. I also really loved learning about the maple syrup business, that was one of the more interesting parts of this book for me.
Thanks to Algonquin Books for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.
I’m a huge sucker for anything maple flavored, like this cookie, or literally anything that has maple in it. Do you have a particular flavor you gravitate towards?
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