Staff Pick of the Month We wanted to share a favorite book from one of our staff members with you each month. This month we are highlighting Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger reviewed by our staff member Brianna.
Elatsoe who goes by Ellie for short, is 17 and lives in America but this America is a little different. The America in Elatsoe is full of magic, monsters, fairies, vampires and ghosts including Ellie’s best friend Kirby, the ghost of her family’s dead dog. Ellie can raise the ghosts of dead animals, an ability she has received through the generations of her Lipan Apache family and her six-great-grandmother, Six-Great for short. Her constant companion is Kirby, the ghost of her deceased family dog. Ellie’s latest ghost goal is to raise an ancient trilobite. When Ellie’s cousin Trevor gets in a bad car accident, he appears to her in a dream that night asking Ellie to solve his murder and protect his wife and baby son. Ellie is determined to use her powers to uncover the truth behind Trevor’s death and bring his killer to justice.
Elatsoe is a fresh and authentic debut by Darcie Little Badger. Little Badger seamlessly weaves together Apache mythology and folklore with fantasy elements such as fairies, magic, and vampires. Elatsoe contains themes of grief, colonization, racism, and abuse towards Indigenous peoples but Ellie, Jay and the puppy poltergeist Kirby always manage to find to find some levity even while they battle dark secrets.