It’s an exciting story about a boy named Allen who can talk to llamas, leading him to uncover secrets about his past, but it’s also about making true connections with people. Overall, I loved the unique premise and the characters, but I would have done some things differently as the author.

Here are my thoughts:

What I liked:
-Short, digestible chapters—at most, five pages long. This really kept me reading, and I was able to finish the book in a couple sittings. GREAT for middle-grade.
-The premise? The combination of baseball and Upstate NY and llamas and dead scientist parents? It was so great.
-I love magical realism. Just love it.
-Vivid sense of place. Loved the descriptions of Newcomb and the mountains.
-Gramma, Allen and Max were distinct and their dialogue reflected their characterization really well.
-Builds mystery effectively (albeit a little slowly, which I didn’t mind as an adult reader, but a young reader might).
-It becomes a survival story midway through, and the author did a great job of showing the effects of hypothermia.
-Sadder than I expected! (This could be good or bad depending on the reader. One particular moment just was not what I saw coming!).


What I might have done differently:
-The pacing felt a little off to me. The beginning and end were pretty drawn out, and we don’t even meet the llama until the very middle. Even within some of the chapters, some information and descriptions felt superfluous.
-This is minor, but I didn’t like how the author handled dialogue tags. Also, when Allen had thoughts, they weren’t denoted in any way. No italics or quotations or anything. So you’d be reading this past tense scene, and suddenly there’s a present tense line, and you realize it’s a thought Allen is having. This wasn’t a huge deal, but it was enough to briefly take me out of the story.
-The writing was a little choppy at times. This writer has written lots of non-fiction, but this is his debut novel, and as someone with editorial experience, I could tell. But I don’t think the average middle-grade reader would have any issues with it. I’m just picky :)
-I didn’t quite connect emotionally with Allen. The potential was all there but something just held me back from fully empathizing with him and his story and his friends.

Allen lives with his grandmother because his parents were killed. He continues to have nightmares about the event but doesn’t understand what the dreams mean. Allen tends to hum to himself a lot. His grandmother decides to move back to the family house. He starts making friends and he gains a mentor, Max. Allen goes to the Winter Carnival with Max and goes to see the animals there. He sees a black llama and starts to hum/talk with it. Things start coming back to Allen and his starts to remember what happens to his parents. He tries to save the llama and set it free. In the end, Allen finds out the truth of his parents deaths and things are nicely wrapped up in the end.

I really liked the beginning of the book. I struggled with the part about Allen talking to the llama. The last part of the book felt a bit rushed to me. I did like the end though.

This was a different one, outside of the box but at the same time a call to some nature/survival classics we grew up with. It was an interesting grief story but with a fresh take on all usual elements. Easy to read, not too long, this standalone is a journey of memory and coming of age of one who must face the ghosts of trauma and trek the right path for his future.
The author created tension by limiting the technological resources of the characters, no phone reception, no way to ask for help added to winter weather, inexperience to hike aggravating the survival conditions. But even risking his life, he doesn't quit trying to save Yana. I love the idea of a boy speaking with the llama.
Themes: loss of parents, dealing with sadness, isolation, lack of friends, lack of belonging then finding a place to call home, finding new friends, fighting for truth, justice and what is right. Bullying (as kids and adults). Call to nature with awesome quotes and mention to Shakespeare quotes as well for wisdom.
Alopecia representation.
I am.glad the author added that epilogue.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this e-arc.

This was a really interesting concept for a magical fiction book, it had everything that I was looking for. I enjoyed that the llama was the talking animal and that it was used in a cool way. I enjoyed the way the fantasy elements worked with the story and how the characters were everything that I was looking for. William David Thomas has a great writing style and left me wanting more from him.

Absolutely loved this adventure about Allen moving to the north with gramma (parents have been gone eight years) because she’s hoping he’ll make connections. Allen loves humming and when Bridie hears it she tells him she likes his humming. Allen meets Zach and he thinks he likes these new friends, Allen wonders why he keeps having recurring nightmares and wonders if gramma has told him the truth about what happened to his parents. When Max, his mentor, takes him to a winter carnival he sees a llama, Yana, and Allen realizes he can understand what the llama is say from the humming. Allen can see his parents when Yana hums. What does it mean? Allen wonders how could I hum all this time not knowing it was llama language? When Allen finds out Yana was sold to a bad man, he steals Yana and takes her to the mountains. What happens then?

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

I have a hard time with talking animals. I want to move past it, but it's so implausible that I struggle. I knew Allen talked to a llama in this one, and I was apprehensive. Plainly put, I loved this book. It was so well done. I loved it all, even the llama. I look forward to more by this author and can't wait to share it with my studens.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this wonderful story. Allen is trying to adjust to his new home where he and grandmother have moved to hopefully help him make more social connections. He meets Max, an older girl in his school who is assigned as his mentor. After meeting a llama at a holiday fair, memories start to come back to him and he realizes that things are not as he has been told.

When you're from upstate NY and you about a story set in upstate NY, written by someone who lives in (kind of) Upstate NY, it's an instant win. And then when you dive into the story that has themes of family, found family, human and animal connection, mystery/suspense, and dealing with trauma, it's A HUGE win. I couldn't put this book down; the quick chapters make it accessible for younger readers and the balance of lightheartedness and seriousness engulfs the reader. While of course I love the main character, Allen, I really really felt a deep connection to his grandmother and his mentor, Max. They were both just so real; they could have come from my life! I was a bit turned off at first with the magical realism AND I"m not really sure if communicating with animals is really magical realism; I do think some people have that gift. This book left me thinking about that days after I finished it...and I really want a llama now!

Definitely recommend for middle grade readers AND those who love middle grade stories....especially if you're from upstate NY!