Elatsoe | Chronicle Books
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Elatsoe

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Darcie Little Badger ; Rovina Cai
A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin’s ghost and vows to unmask the murderer. Elatsoe—Ellie for short—lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant grou...
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★ “Little Badger’s stunning, haunting debut brings to the fantasy genre a fresh voice and perspective, weaving in folktales, omens, and urban legends of the protagonist’s Lipan Apache culture.”
—Booklist, starred review

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A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin’s ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe—Ellie for short—lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals—most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and it’s dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

A breathtaking debut novel featuring an asexual, Apache teen protagonist, Elatsoe combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, fantasy elements, and is one of the most-talked about debuts of the year.

Locus Award Winner—Best First Novel 
A National Indie Bestseller 
Nebula Award Finalist 
Lodestar Award Finalist 
Ignyte Award Finalist 
TIME’s Best 100 Fantasy Books of All Time 
NPR Best of the Year 
Booklist’s Top 10 First Novels for Youth 
A BookPage Best of the Year 
Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" 
PNBA Bestseller 
Publishers Weekly Best of the Year 
Buzzfeed's Best YA SFF of the Year 
Shelf-Awareness Best of the Year 
AICL Best YA of the Year 
NECBA Windows & Mirrors Selection 
NEIBA Award Finalist 
Tor Best of the Year 
Kirkus Best YA of the Year 
Publishers Weekly Flying Start 
American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist 

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 V
Age Range: Levine Querido
Publication Date: 08/25/2020
ISBN: 9781646140053
08/25/2020

★ "Groundbreaking...A brilliant, engaging debut"
– Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “[A] refreshing voice. Indigenous myths, modern-day technology, and the supernatural successfully blend to build a fast-paced murder mystery.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ “Little Badger’s stunning, haunting debut brings to the fantasy genre a fresh voice and perspective, weaving in folktales, omens, and urban legends of the protagonist’s Lipan Apache culture.”
—Booklist, starred review

★ “A strong heroine, a supernatural mystery and a unique and powerful Native American voice.”
—Bookpage, starred review 

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