✨The Song of Orphan's Garden (2025)

By Nicole M. Hewitt

4Rbooks                                         5/6                 grades          5-8

Amazon                                          4.5/5              grade level   4-6

Goodreads                                      4.3/5 

Common Sense Media               Not yet reviewed

345 pages

Synopsis

            Gairda is a kingdom controlled by King Cormoran of the giants.  To make humans suffer for rebelling, he uses the winter spirits to turn the land outside the giant’s garden land into a blizzardly wilderness. There is one place of escape in this territory, a rumored hidden garden known as the Orphan’s Garden.

            Lyrianna and her brother Zave have lost their family. They are trudging through the snow trying to find the Orphan’s Garden which is singing to Zyrianna, a songsummoner. It’s rough and Zave is near death when the stumble on the garden.

            At the same time, Brob, a giant, and his parents are also searching for the garden which Brob accidentally created. They have been banished from the giant’s kingdom because of his father’s failure during the battles with the humans.

            Brob, Lyrianna, and Zave come to the garden and find there are orphans already living there. Distrustful at first, they come together to open up the gates for everyone. Their peace is broken when the giants come looking for the garden, and the humans come looking for Lyrianna and Zave. A battle begins.  Brob and Lyrianna realize that working together, they can sing a new song that will set everything in order, if the combatants are willing to try something different.

Parental Guidelines:    medium-low

There are battles between giants and humans that lead to deaths.

Brob and his family are banished from the giant’s kingdom, sent out to suffer in the wilderness of winter.

Lyriana’s mom and John Hopesinger’s mom both die after singing a “first song” to heal the people and the land.  They pour their life into the effort which kills them.

Lyrianna seemingly succumbs to the same fate but magically becomes part of a healing tree and then is returned as a living human.

 Humans are not thought of highly by the giants and there are many slurs.

There is a force controlling everything in the land called “The Composer.” There are also seasonal spirits fighting for control of the climate.

Recommendation

            This is a fantasy story written completely in verse.  It goes back and forth between Lyrianna and Brob with both sharing events, histories, and feelings as the tackle the events in the story. They speak in free verse.  There are other speakers at times using rhyming poetry, and every time a seasonal spirit speaks, it’s in haiku.

            I thoroughly enjoyed this “novel.”  It made me think of a Native American tale attempting to explain how the world works and how the spirits control those actions. There is nothing in the story that would not allow me to recommend this book, but I do think the style of writing will not appeal to everyone. 

It is an easy read. 345 pages in verse is probably 100+ if written in prose. Students who enjoy poetry and like creative writing should find this a fascinating and inspiring read. More linear and straightforward thinkers and readers might find this confusing and lose interest.

            This might work as a classroom read, especially during a unit on poetry. It could also work as a group read or homeschool project. As an individual read, I think it will come down to personal preference.

This is a debut novel for the author. I will look forward to reading what she comes up with next.