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Book Review

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Publisher's Note:

Newbery Honor Winner National Indie Bestseller National Book Award Longlist Minneapolis Star Tribune Best of the Year Publishers Weekly Best of the Year Kirkus Best the Year Apple Best of the Year Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best New York Public Library's Best of the Year Autostraddle's Best Queer Books of the Year "A spellbinding tale."—Texas Monthly "Genre-bending."—TIME "Undeniably charming."—Tor.com ★ "Evokes the timeless feeling of listening to traditional oral storytelling."—Kirkus (starred) ★ "Fun, imaginative, and deeply immersive, this story will be long in the minds of readers."—Publishers Weekly (starred) ★ "Magical, stunning, and wholly original."—Booklist (starred) "A highly descriptive story which absorbs the audience into its world, readers will become invested in reading until the very end."—School Library Connection A Snake Falls to Earth is a breathtaking work of Indigenous futurism. Darcie Little Badger draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed. Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Ea…

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A Snake Falls to Earth

by Darcie Little Badger

Reviewer: Cindy M
Genre: Fantasy
Recommended Age: 12+

Overall Book Review:

A Snake Falls to Earth is a mix–on so many levels. First it is a blend of contemporary fiction and a parallel world of animal people that isn’t a fantasy so much as a folktale/legend/story inspired by the Lipan heritage of the author. Next the format of the narrative alternates back and forth between Nina and Oli, each resident of their respective worlds. Last, it seems to be a book that sits at the crossroads of middle grade and young adult fiction; in fact, my library seemed a little confused on that matter and the spine of the book has two stickers: one identifying it as YA and one identifying it as Middle Grade. Perhaps it is most accurate to say, that like all good stories, this one is timeless and can appeal to all ages.

This novel is replete with themes around heritage, family, friends, the environment, and finding one’s place in the world. The author’s voice and style are inviting, and the narrative feels fresh. Readers looking for something a little different than the standard fantasy need look no further than A Snake Falls to Earth.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 4 religious exclamations; 3 mild obscenities: 3 scatalogical words; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore: Reported death of a family member (natural causes); snake bites a foot when its tail is stepped on; verbal threats/chase; fish killed for dinner; report of the mass slaughter of the American Bison; altercation with someone in creature form, biting; severely injured young animal found, mention of blood; character has a dream in which he finds bloody coats; characters wrestle/fist fight; extinction and near extinction of species; story told of when a father and son are killed; destruction from natural disasters; filming of a staged fight, creature sprayed in the eyes with mace; destruction of property; character is shot with intent to kill, mention of blood.

Sex/Nudity: When character shifts from animal form back to human form, they obviously have no clothes (non-sexual); one character is referred to with gender neutral pronouns; reference to married women (implied lesbian couple); folk tale refers to a female character as having a wife.

Mature Subject Matter:

Poor treatment of Native Americans, global warming, death of a loved one, illness.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

None noted.

Overall Book Rating
Profanity/Language
Rating:
3
10
Violence/Gore
Rating:
2
10
Sex/Nudity
Rating:
1
10

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About the Reviewer

Cindy M
An accountant and CPA by profession, I found myself a book reviewer for Squeaky Clean Reads by happenstance. When the opportunity came to transform that website into Compass Book Ratings, I was excited to seize it and meld my business background with my love of books. As the mother of three teenage sons, I have read a large number of children and young adult books and I believe that there is great value in a content review service. As much as we would love to read everything our children read, there just isn’t enough time. I also appreciate being able to select books for myself that are really worth my precious and limited reading time. I believe there is a book out there for everyone–they just have to find it!

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