Oddity

Gr 6 Up–Twelve-year-old Clover Elkin has always longed to find an Oddity, one of several magical items hidden all over the world. Her father warns her that Oddities are dangerous; they were somehow responsible her mother’s death. But when her father is attacked by a gang of bandits, he tells her to run—throwing her his medical bag, he reveals that he kept one Oddity, and that she must find the head of the Society of Anomalogists. Lost and hunted, Clover’s escape soon leads her to encounters with a bizarre assortment of new acquaintances, including a talking rooster who happens to be a famous general, a girl who sells fake elixirs, and a murderous doll with incredible strength. Along the way she discovers the shocking truth about her mother and about her own mysterious past. Set in an alternate version of early 19th-century America, where war is looming between a massive army led by Napoleon Bonaparte (the only actual historical figure mentioned in the book) and an assortment of fighters led by the ambitious Senator Auburn, this imaginative fantasy-adventure is packed with magical items, like a pistol that always hits its target, a hat that steals people’s secrets, and matches that stop time while they are burning. The descriptions are lyrical and richly detailed, and the story full of unexpected twists. Most of the main characters, including Clover and her family and the major villains, are white, but her family friend, the Widow Henshaw, is a former enslaved person, and she is also aided by members of a local tribe (the author’s note mentions that all of the tribes are fictional, to avoid any inaccuracy in representation). Rytter’s striking black-and-white linocuts add to the book’s dark, magical feel.