The Girl of Ink and Stars

Name: The Girl of Ink and Stars
Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave

by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Ages 9–12 Reading age 10 Novel Set in somewhere magical adventurousepic

A mapmaker's daughter on a forbidden island joins the search for a missing friend, using her father's charts to cross land nobody is allowed to enter.

A story about children, adventurous and epic in tone. We would put it with children of 9–12, and at a reading age of about 10 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

A death or grief
Mild peril

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Our take on this book

On an island where travel beyond the boundaries is forbidden, Isabella — a mapmaker's daughter who knows the old charts by heart — volunteers to guide a search party into the dangerous, uncharted interior when her friend goes missing, following her father's maps and the myths of the island's fiery heart. Kiran Millwood Hargrave's debut is a beautiful, myth-soaked adventure: gorgeous, lyrical writing, a brave and clever heroine, and a story that weaves cartography, legend and courage into something genuinely magical. There is real peril and a thread of darkness as the quest goes deeper, pitched for a reader ready for adventure with proper stakes. For a nine- to twelve-year-old who loves maps, myths and a heroine who saves the day through knowledge and nerve, it is an enchanting, award-winning read — atmospheric and exciting in equal measure — and a wonderful introduction to a writer with a rare gift for language.