Karen Cushman
Newbery award-winning children’s book author
As part of my list of favorite fantasy novels, I offer Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. A gifted musician, Seraphina is also part dragon. Intriguing story with great characters and the wonderful image of her silver scales. Beautifully written.
Here’s Rachel Hartman’s website, where you can learn more about this book and her newest, Shadow Scale.
Yes, I have gone public. In my NCTE talk, I announced that I am writing a fantasy, working title Song of the Wise Woman’s Daughter. I trepidatiously read a few passages aloud and no rotten fruit was thrown so I am encouraged. My fantasy has no vampires or zombies. No one dies. The world is not destroyed or even in much danger because the kind of book I like is the kind that celebrates love, embraces compassion, honors intelligence, and ends with hope. G.K.Chesterton said that fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. And, may I add, even without magic.
Being of a somewhat oppositional temperament, I tend to dislike what everyone else likes. Here is a rare exception: I am neck deep in Seraphina and loving it. Rachel Hartman offers us a meticulously-built, rich and complex world peopled (if I may use that word to include dragons) with distinctive, engaging characters. I am absorbed, intrigued, and fascinated. Now farewell, I have a book to finish.