I don't usually read a lot of middle grade, but I'm so excited I picked this one up! It felt like a combination of Gail Carson Levine and a Barbie animated movie. The cover is gorgeous and the story inside is even more so. I'm an ex-choir/theatre kid so this was right up my alley.

Elissa was so easy to root for and I found myself invested in her journey from the very first page. She's kind and generous and I loved how she managed to stay true to herself in a world constantly pushing her into different categories. I wasn't expecting the theme of religion to play such an important part throughout the story and it made me wish I'd had something like this when I was in middle school and questioning my faith/where I fit in the world. This is going to be so helpful to so many kids and beyond that, it's just plain enjoyable!

We Are The Song is the story of Elissa, a young singer who wields magic with her voice. The story opens during a war between two larger kingdoms, with Elissa's homeland stuck between. Elissa, along with Lucio (her composer and traveling partner), is charged with traveling through the kingdoms and helping those impacted by the war.

I genuinely enjoyed this book! Elissa sets the perfect example for young people: you should always stand up for what's right, even if you're standing alone. Some of the themes of this book tend to be a little heavy. For example, Elissa struggles with the age old question of "How can an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God allow so much suffering in the world?" With that said, I still found the story to be accessible for middle-grade readers.

The prose was somewhat sophisticated, and Bakewell uses a lot of musical jargon. I didn't care much for the pacing, as the first half was somewhat slow, not picking up until about halfway through. However, I still enjoyed this book and story immensely. I look forward to suggesting this to middle-grade readers, especially those with an interest in music or those that are reading at an advanced level.

I'm glowing a little more after reading this book.

WE ARE THE SONG is just as lush and beautiful as its cover suggests. It follows Elissa, a young girl who has been gifted by the Goddess Cae to sing magic into the world. But where there is power, there is corruption, and she soon finds herself caught in a multi-nation conflict.

Catherine Bakewell's prose is good enough to eat. It's SO evocative, and the world she has created is utterly, utterly sumptuous, from the clothes to the food to the landscape. I wanted to climb into the pages! And I adored Elissa (sweet precious baby); especially her relationship with her Composer, the high-strung Lucio.

Yes, the moral debating occasionally felt repetitive. But WE ARE THE SONG is the kind of dazzling, mature-voiced MG fantasy I've been craving lately, and I want many many more stories like this, please!!!
Thank you Netgally and Holiday House!

I did like this book and it had such great potential, but the character development for Elissa was few and far between. Most of the time I felt like she was a Mary Sue character, but I did like the actual plot and the take on this story. It was a lobelia read from beginning to end

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of We Are The Song by Catherine Bakewell in exchange for an honest review.'

We Are the Song by Catherine Bakewell is a beautiful fantasy brimming with music. This mid-grade fantasy follows Cae Elissa, a young teen who is part of an elite group of singers known as the Voices of the Goddess. She travels with a composer, Lucio, throughout her war torn land doing miracles in the name of the Goddess Cae. When she is faced with an impossible task she finds her true voice and realizes that she is blessed in more ways than she can imagine.

I really enjoyed this story. It was a quick read with beautiful imagery and I loved all of the musical references. The story is a bit heavy on religious imagery but it is woven in well enough to not take away from the main message. Elissa is a tortured artist type who has a great deal of character growth in the story. I found myself easily rooting for her and the other singers as they worked together to try to use their gifts for good.

I would recommend this book to all mid-grade and older readers who love fantasy and stories of good vs. evil.

One of the books I awaited for the year. I enjoyed it very much even though it was meant for a much younger audience than me. I tend to love this kind of books.

I was lucky enough to read an ARC of WE ARE THE SONG, and it was an utter delight! Bakewell crafts an incredibly lush and rich world, where music is woven throughout everything from plot, to conflict, to the magic system, and even down to the rhythm of the characters' voices The writing is beautiful and lyrical, musical in and of itself.

This is a true fantasy with fictional worlds that are so well-developed, each with different physical attributes, cuisine, and clothing.

The main character, Essie, is both vulnerable and powerful all at once and Bakewell did an amazing job creating a story that young readers can submerge themselves in—telling a tale that centers on faith, friendship, kindness, and believing in oneself.

This was a hard read.

I took me a long time to end this because I never felt like the narrative was a 12 year old kid. Too poetic, too beautiful and I doubt even a kid would think in a way that bore me to bones.

And then there was a religious point. I'm not a fan of religion in general but if it helps with the world building, fine. But this for me was too much, because it was one of the major plot in the book. So not for me.

The story for me start too slow but by the half it got a little better. And the cover? Gorgeous, the best part in the book for me honestly.


Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This was definitely written for a lot younger audience than me but I thought it was cute and a good middle grade for someone of a younger audience.

3.75/5

I'm obsessed with the cover, it's what drew me first to the novel. The author did a solid job in weaving an intricate magical system through songs, which makes the premise of the novel fresh and unique. I also love how the title for each chapter are inspired by musical concepts! I'm looking forward to more works from the author and the publisher. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me a copy of We Are the Song, I enjoyed it immensely!

Rating: 3½ stars

ARC provided via NetGallery, in return for an honest review.

"I had asked Caé for more responsibility, and She was giving it to me."

We Are the Song is a story about learning to believe in yourself against all odds, set in a fantasy world where music is the source of powerful magic. Twelve-year-old Caé Elissa is a Singer, one of twelve people who have been blessed by the goddess Caé to sing and cast spells. Her and her Composer Lucio travel a war-torn world, giving miracles to those affected by the fighting.

Throughout the story, we see as Elissa begins to be exposed to a darker side of her world, and learns that not everyone she meets shares her good intentions. She must learn how to find her own voice, while meeting the challenge of the new responsibilities she has been given. For anyone religious/spiritual, there is also an overarching theme of grappling with your faith.

"And when you sing that phrase right, the victory will be even sweeter because of how you fought for it."

The writing in this book is beautiful, sweet and poetic in a way that is a perfect reflection of the musical motifs within the story. The concept of music as a means of casting magic is quite interesting—think Bards in D&D—and the way it functions and is handled in the story is quite engaging. Although I found the heavy-handed musical theming in the writing a little jarring at times, it shows a care towards the theme, and could be quite enjoyable for those interested in/learning music.

All in all, this book was an enjoyable read. The beginning was a tad slow, and the ending felt a little more condensed compared to the rest of the book—it could have perhaps use a little more buildup and lingered a bit longer—but it was by no means a letdown. The best part of this book is it's exploration of characters: the lead Elissa, who we get to watch make mistakes, learn, and grow from her experiences; and the supporting character of Lucio, who had his own side narrative about growing up, feeling lost, and losing one's self.

first of all, the cover is beautiful. i love the world that the author has built, the creative names, the works building. she’s a musical goddess, her powers have bloomed and she’s being taken under wing by lucio. she’s places in a predicament to use her powers for bas instead of good. will she be able to control her powers? elissa sings songs like a lullaby.

“Mother Caé, e’er enfolding us within Her loving arms, She protects us, She will bless us, She’ll shield us from every harm. Dry our tears, hold us close, keep our loved ones safe and sound, Blessed be the kindly Goddess, by the stars forever crowned.”

it’s about kindness, believing in yourself.

don’t expect some intricate written fantasy, this is more a middle grade book.

i received this arc from NG and this is my voluntary review.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The beautiful cover is what first drew me to this book, and I was happy to find Bakewell's lyrical prose was just as beautiful and captivating. It's a wonderful debut!

I've never seen musical magic like this before, and thought it was well done. The way Bakewell tied it into themes of religion and spirituality had more depth than I had expected in a middle grade novel, but was still age appropriate. This book has a lot of heart.

My biggest complaint was the pacing. The first part of the book was slow and a struggle to get through. But once the action picked up, the story flowed nicely.

4/5 stars

For the right audience, I think this book would be 4 stars. Definitely Middle Grades, which I believe it’ll labeled as. I enjoyed the book for what it was, a nicely written fantasy for a younger reader. It was fast paced, though the actual pacing in the book was off. For me personally, the author spent too long in some areas (got bored in spots) and rushed through others, that needed more fleshing out. I really liked the authors approach to the actual writing with the musical spand vocabulary. And for a fantasy, it was very clean and straightforward. Would definitely recommend for 5th grade through middle school.

The book centers around a magical world where the Goddess Cae has chosen Singers and Composers to spread her magic throughout the world by helping those in need. Elissa, a Singer, and her Composer, Lucio have been on a 2 year mission trip from their homeland of Cadenza. Elissa is taught to not question her role/gift Cae gave her. But she ends up doing just that, when things start feeling wrong to her.

Thank you Netgalley and Holiday House.

This book is beautiful, using magic through song was an incredible magic system.

I loved how the main character dealt with the struggle of her faith, although I felt it could have delved a little more into her struggles at times but overall I loved the story.

One of my favourite details is that the chapter titles are divided up like music would be.

I read this is one sitting because I couldn't put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

The story of "We Are the Song" follows Elissa, a young girl who is gifted with the magical power of song by their Goddess. She is on a journey to share her gift and grant succor to the people of the world. The writing style of the author is very poetic and even luxuriant at times. Rarely do I read a story where I am seized by the desire to get up and draw out the scene, but this happened to me at multiple points during this story. The way certain locales are described made me think of real-life places. I feel as if the author got inspiration from places such as Mykonos, Greece or Florence, Italy, or the beautiful towns in the French countryside. The beauty of the scenes within the story matches the gorgeous book cover. The cover is actually what drew me in and made me curious about the book! The story is good but starts a little oddly. When I first started to read, I thought I'd accidentally jumped to the middle of the book. I didn't, the opening of the book just makes you feel as if you started in the middle of the final book in a series. The plot is fairly simple but still compelling. I really enjoyed Elissa as a character. Reading as she struggles with her faith and her devotion, but tries her best to stay true to her morals, was fascinating. Someone mentioned that they disliked her questioning herself so much, but Elissa is twelve years old. I'm pretty sure many twelve-year-old girls in real life question and second guess themselves when it comes to big decisions like the ones Elissa has to make. Normally, I dislike reading anything to do with religion, but this captured me. I really did like the subtle messages about the issues of blind faith and the issues with religion being twisted for evil means. While I'm not sure if that was the intended message, it is what I received. This book is very short, so it does feel like it moved very quickly, but they only could fit so much plot into so many pages. One thing I that baffled me is that the book's plot blurb describes the character Lucio as "Her vain and jealous music tutor". I don't know if I would call him either vain or jealous? Lucio is as much of a child as Elissa but is expected to act the part of a fully-fledged adult. Both Elissa and Lucio have an incredible amount of pressure put on them by their religion, their religious leaders and the world at large while being only children themselves. (I feel like there's another message hidden in that, but I could be reading too much into that one.) The magic system in "We Are the Song" is also very interesting to read about! The concept of magic through singing or spell work done with magical voices is nothing new, but the way it is written in this story makes it feel as if it IS new! I'm a bit sad the story is so short, I would have loved to learn more about the Singers and the other characters. This story was so wonderful, and I really fell in the love with the author's writing style. I will totally be on the lookout for anything else they write in the future!

I'm glowing a little more after reading this book.

WE ARE THE SONG is just as lush and beautiful as its cover suggests. It follows Elissa, a young girl who has been gifted by the Goddess Cae to sing magic into the world. But where there is power, there is corruption, and she soon finds herself caught in a multi-nation conflict.

Catherine Bakewell's prose is good enough to eat. It's SO evocative, and the world she has created is utterly, utterly sumptuous, from the clothes to the food to the landscape. I wanted to climb into the pages! And I adored Elissa (sweet precious baby); especially her relationship with her Composer, the high-strung Lucio.

Yes, the moral debating occasionally felt repetitive. But WE ARE THE SONG is the kind of dazzling, mature-voiced MG fantasy I've been craving lately, and I want many many more stories like this, please!!!

"Listen to your own voice. Listen to your own song."

**Thanks to NetGalley, Catherine Bakewell, and Holiday House for this ARC**

We Are the Song is Catherine Bakewell's debut middle grade novel, to be followed by a young adult novel in 2023. A charming, lyrical middle grade fantasy, We Are the Song tells the story of Caé Elissa, a 12 year old Voice of the Goddess who sings blessings from the creator of the world, Caé. She travels with a 17 year old composer and is tasked with helping the people of their war-torn world. With her voice, she has the ability to heal, to grant joy, and to transform the physical world around her. As the book progresses, she is asked by powerful people to sing blessings that feel evil to her and she begins to wonder how she the Caé she knows and loves can be represented so differently by those with power. A thoughtful exploration of the difference between spirituality/religion and Religion with a capital R, this book emphasizes listening to your own understanding of what is right and your own unique connection with a higher power.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It was beautifully written and still felt appropriate for being told from the point of view of a 12-year-old. My only complaint was the pacing - the first two thirds of the books flowed beautifully and then it felt like the ending of the book was compressed and happened very quickly. It also sometimes felt a little heavy handed with the religious messaging.

Three stars - I liked it :)

I really enjoyed this book. I thought this idea was very unique as I never read anything like this. It also felt very magical, which suited the story. Especially, the chapter names were brilliant, it suited the importance of singing of Elissa. The cover is so beautiful, it looks so magical and like a goddess. I felt like that she was quite mature for her age but this could also be due to the war, but sometimes it was visible that she is still a child. Overall, I enjoyed this story very much, but I wished there was a map of this world to visualize it better.

“You could have been born a scholar, if you’d been born under a different star.”
“Why not a scholar and a singer?”

As one of twelve people born with the gift of magic in the world, Elissa was taken as a child to serve the Church– and her parents who tried to hide her, arrested. The book starts off strong by introducing Elissa’s struggles between who she is told she should be and who she wants to be. Her journey through Bassan raises questions concerning the necessity of the daily struggles of life and who the people truly deserving of blessings are. In the second half, however, the book seems to do a complete 180 and abandons everything it was leading up to. Caé is portrayed as a hero despite the fact that she forces heavy responsibilities on children, and gives power to some very not-nice-people (who have done things ranging from breaking apart families to committing literal war crimes.) The ending felt rushed and I was left very confused with what the main message and takeaways were.

I feel like the book had a lot of potential and would have been better if Caé had played a much, much, more minor role. On another note, I really liked the normalization of LGBT characters and relationships. It’s good to see more diversity in middle-grade books, and in fantasy in general!

Thank you to net galley for the e-arc. And congrats to the author on the debut!