Elatsoe - by Darcie Little Badger

About the Book

"Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family."--Publsiher's description.

Book Synopsis

Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel
A National Indie Bestseller
Nebula Award Finalist
Lodestar Award Finalist
Ignyte Award Finalist
TIME's Best 100 Fantasy Books of All Time
NPR Best of the Year
Booklist's Top 10 First Novels for Youth
A BookPage Best of the Year
Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best"
PNBA Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Best of the Year
Buzzfeed's Best YA SFF of the Year
Shelf-Awareness Best of the Year
AICL Best YA of the Year
NECBA Windows & Mirrors Selection
NEIBA Award Finalist
Tor Best of the Year
Kirkus Best YA of the Year
Publishers Weekly Flying Start
American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist

"Groundbreaking."--TIME

"Deeply enjoyable from start to finish."--NPR

"Utterly magical."--SyFyWire

"Atmospheric and lyrical...a gorgeous work of art."--BuzzFeed

"One of the best YA debuts of 2020. Read it."--Marieke Nijkamp

★ "A fresh voice and perspective."--Booklist, starred review

★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."--BookPage, starred review

★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set."--Shelf-Awareness, starred review

A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and it's dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

A breathtaking debut novel featuring an asexual, Apache teen protagonist, Elatsoe combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, fantasy elements, and is one of the most-talked about debuts of the year.

Review Quotes

★ "This absorbing and haunting speculative fiction debut challenges expectations at every turn."- HORN BOOK (starred review)

"A brilliant, engaging debut... It seamlessly blends cyberstalking with Vampire Citizen Centers and Lipan Apache stories." - KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

"A fresh voice and perspective, weaving in folktales, omens, and urban legends of the protagonist's Lipan Apache culture." - BOOKLIST (starred review)

"A strong heroine, a supernatural mystery and a unique and powerful Native American voice."-BOOKPAGE (starred review)

"Creative and meticulously plotted... a Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." - SHELF-AWARENESS starred review

"Groundbreaking." --TIME

"Utterly magical." - SYFYWIRE

"[A] refreshing voice. Indigenous myths, modern-day technology, and the supernatural successfully blend to build a fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Beautiful. Sinister. Deeply enjoyable from start to finish." - NPR

"The 100 Fantasy Books of All Time" - TIME

About the Author

Darcie Little Badger is an Earth scientist, writer, and fan of the weird, beautiful, and haunting. She is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. Her Locus Award-winning debut novel, Elatsoe, was a National Indie Bestseller, named to over a dozen best-of-year lists, and called one of the Best 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time by TIME. Her second novel, A Snake Falls to Earth was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and received a Newbery Award Honor.

Rovina Cai is a freelance illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. She works out of an old convent building that is possibly haunted. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and the Children's Book Council of Australia. Recently she has illustrated books by Patrick Ness and Margo Lanagan. Instagram @rovinacai