Dragonfly Song. Wendy Orr. Toronto, ON: Pajama Press, 2017. 393 pp., hardcover, $19.97. ISBN 978-1-77278-037-6. Subject Heading: Bronze age-Greece-Juvenile fiction. Mutism-Juvenile fiction. Fantasy fiction. Grades 5 and up / Ages 10 and up. Review by Cate Carlyle. **** /4

excerpt:

Returning from the sea

her sanctuary cave is darker,

the rock floor colder,

the town more hate-filled-

but there is shelter

and water to drink

from river or well.

And though the sea goddess

welcomed her once,

when Aissa returns

her flowers and shells

have been scattered and smashed.

Nowhere is safe

but sometimes

she is too tired to run-

and sometimes

she is tired

of always running-

so she hides,

squatting behind

a rock or a tree,

her head tucked tight

between her knees,

her arms shielding

her defenseless neck.

Sitting small,

still as stone,

as invisible

as the nothing she feels.

Villagers call the homeless, mute girl child “No Name” or “Wolf Girl”, but she does have a given name, and it is Aissa. Aissa, born on the island of Crete, was cursed with two extra thumbs “dangling from each wrist”. Her father, the Chief, cut off the extra flesh only to die soon after. Aissa is then snatched from her bed and offered anonymously to a new family only to lose her second mother, and her own voice, to raiders a few years later. Aissa struggles to make her way on her own, working as a slave, derided and shunned as the cursed “No Name”, her only possession being a stone bearing her birth name which means “dragonfly”. The young girl often watches the Lady priestess at the Sanctuary, and, in her twelfth year, she begins to recall some of her past, her name, and the fact that the Lady may have been her birth mother.

     Approaching thirteen years, Aissa begins to take notice of the Bull King tribute. Each year, the Bull King takes two children from the island, a boy and girl in their thirteenth year. The children must dance in the ring with bulls, and those that survive will be returned to the island and the tribute removed. No one has ever returned. Desperate to escape her dire circumstances and beginning to realize she is not who she appears to be, Aissa focuses on the tribute as her means of escape and survival. Selected as a Bull King dancer, Aissa embarks on a journey of empowerment and rebirth that reunites her with both of her mothers and empowers her to once again find her true voice.

     Wendy Orr’s Dragonfly Song is a work of beauty. From the stunning cover to the mythological imagery and lyrical prose, readers are drawn in and carried along on an intense ride. Since Aissa is mute for much of the story, her thoughts and observations are inserted in the form of short poetic phrases. This change in format does not remove the reader from the story in any way, and these pieces could, in fact, stand alone as beautiful poetry. Those with no knowledge of Greek mythology will benefit from the opening author’s note, but prior knowledge is definitely not a requirement to enjoy this book. Orr’s language is gripping and enchanting, and Dragonfly Song would make a perfect read-aloud chapter book for middle grade teachers. While the academic cross curricular subject areas are obvious, including history, mythology, religion, spirituality, even bullying, I enjoyed this story simply as a pleasure read. Readers will find that Dragonfly Song and its fearless heroine will stick with them long after the final chapter.

Highly Recommended.

Cate Carlyle is a librarian at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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