The Seven Tales of Trinket

Thomas (the Good Knight series) spins tales worthy of her heroine’s aspirations in this nimbly structured collection of seven magical adventures that build into a highly rewarding story. When 11-year-old Trinket’s mother dies, Trinket sets off to find her father, a celebrated storyteller known as James the Bard, and resolve her anger and anguish as to why he abandoned them five years earlier. Accompanied by her good friend, 10-year-old Thomas, following an old map of her father’s and keeping secret her dream to become a storyteller herself, Trinket has exciting, often frightening experiences that turn into the tales that come to define her as the Story Lass. In one coastal village, she rescues a human baby from selkies and is rewarded with a magical harp, on which she learns to compose melodies that lull humans and animals alike. Set in a realistic, unspecified long-ago time and country, the tales are rooted in Celtic folklore and populated by banshees, ghosts, faeries, and gypsies; each ends satisfyingly with a simple, lyrical song that captures its emotional essence. Ages 8–12. Agent: Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Sept.)