The Leopard Behind the Moon
“Paasewe-Valchev’s prose is captivating, smooth, and poetic in its delivery of this fresh and layered narrative. With well-timed, fluid pacing, this novel masterfully deals with themes of friendship, family, loss, and hope. Readers will be engrossed from start to finish. A beautifully rendered coming-of-age story.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] wondrous tale of the village of Sesa, the unusual boy who lives there—and magic enough to change them both. . . . Combining adventure, cautionary tale, and folklore, the narrative includes many side stories and intertwined histories. . . . Making use of many characteristics found in West African oral traditions (call and response, repetition, proverbs, etc.), this tale is a joy to read both silently and aloud.” -Horn Book Magazine
“I especially liked how the book deals with its themes in unexpected ways. The main characters are outcasts in their village and go on a quest to change that, but nothing turns out the way they expected and there are no easy answers. The book deals with loss and tradition and finding one’s place and self worth within a rather unkind community. Portions of it are touching, and portions of it are thrilling, and the ending was perfect. Recommended.” -Stefan Bachmann, internationally bestselling author of The Peculiar
The Leopard Behind the Moon: A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
There Flies the Witch
“The cadenced storyteller’s voice and short, propulsive sentences render every moment of the deceptively simple plot urgently alive. A wealth of earthy, quotidian detail provides some needed distance from the roiling emotional dynamics; beneath an exquisitely poetic skin, the novel brims with tensions between abandonment and isolation, fault and forgiveness, empowerment and self-realization. . . . This is absolutely not to be missed.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“This is a powerful story about forgiveness and healing. The grand adventure is found not in finding a mystical purpose nor defeating an evil king, but in a girl who learns to write her story. . . . For readers who are fans of quiet adventures and (literal) magical storytelling, this is one to hold near your heart.” — Booklist
“A girl seeks a sense of belonging and the truth about her identity. . . . The descriptions of the setting evoke a faraway land, both idyllic in its natural beauty and containing lurking dangers and existing outside of time in a way reminiscent of folklore. Red’s story expands on themes of family, love, self-identity, forgiveness, and growth in this novel that will appeal to sophisticated readers. A dreamy story that reads like an extended folktale.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[Red] seeks to uncover the origins of her past in this literary read by Paasewe-Valchev. . . . Through Red’s mesmeric narration, rendered in lilting prose, Paasewe-Valchev crafts an imaginative story that feels at once otherworldly and inherently grounded in familiar themes of family, forgiveness, and self-discovery.” — Publishers Weekly
There Flies the Witch: A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Leopard Behind the Moon
“Paasewe-Valchev’s prose is captivating, smooth, and poetic in its delivery of this fresh and layered narrative. With well-timed, fluid pacing, this novel masterfully deals with themes of friendship, family, loss, and hope. Readers will be engrossed from start to finish. A beautifully rendered coming-of-age story.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] wondrous tale of the village of Sesa, the unusual boy who lives there—and magic enough to change them both. . . . Combining adventure, cautionary tale, and folklore, the narrative includes many side stories and intertwined histories. . . . Making use of many characteristics found in West African oral traditions (call and response, repetition, proverbs, etc.), this tale is a joy to read both silently and aloud.” -Horn Book Magazine
“I especially liked how the book deals with its themes in unexpected ways. The main characters are outcasts in their village and go on a quest to change that, but nothing turns out the way they expected and there are no easy answers. The book deals with loss and tradition and finding one’s place and self worth within a rather unkind community. Portions of it are touching, and portions of it are thrilling, and the ending was perfect. Recommended.” -Stefan Bachmann, internationally bestselling author of The Peculiar
The Leopard Behind the Moon: A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
There Flies the Witch
“The cadenced storyteller’s voice and short, propulsive sentences render every moment of the deceptively simple plot urgently alive. A wealth of earthy, quotidian detail provides some needed distance from the roiling emotional dynamics; beneath an exquisitely poetic skin, the novel brims with tensions between abandonment and isolation, fault and forgiveness, empowerment and self-realization. . . . This is absolutely not to be missed.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“This is a powerful story about forgiveness and healing. The grand adventure is found not in finding a mystical purpose nor defeating an evil king, but in a girl who learns to write her story. . . . For readers who are fans of quiet adventures and (literal) magical storytelling, this is one to hold near your heart.” — Booklist
“A girl seeks a sense of belonging and the truth about her identity. . . . The descriptions of the setting evoke a faraway land, both idyllic in its natural beauty and containing lurking dangers and existing outside of time in a way reminiscent of folklore. Red’s story expands on themes of family, love, self-identity, forgiveness, and growth in this novel that will appeal to sophisticated readers. A dreamy story that reads like an extended folktale.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[Red] seeks to uncover the origins of her past in this literary read by Paasewe-Valchev. . . . Through Red’s mesmeric narration, rendered in lilting prose, Paasewe-Valchev crafts an imaginative story that feels at once otherworldly and inherently grounded in familiar themes of family, forgiveness, and self-discovery.” — Publishers Weekly
There Flies the Witch: A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection