Between Monsters and Marvels

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

In the next stand-alone high-stakes middle grade fantasy by Alysa Wishingrad, the author of the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection The Verdigris Pawn, a misunderstood young girl named Dare is shipped to the mainland from her tiny island and uncovers startling secrets about her father’s death, the island itself, and the monsters that lend its lore.

Monsters are still lurking on the island of Barrow’s Bay.Dare Coates is sure of it. No drifter or ruffian could have killed her father, the captain of the guard, while he was on patrol. But everyone insists that monsters have been gone for years now. Dare’s mother. Her classmates. Even the governor, who swiftly marries her mother just months after her father’s death. Dare’s suspicions grow even stronger when the governor suddenly ships her off to the mainland, away from any hope of uncovering the truth about her father’s death. Or so she thinks.Soon Dare finds solid proof that monsters still exist and she starts to question everything she’s always known. Was her father who she thought he was? Who can she trust? Where is the line between good and evil? The truth hides behind danger and deception. But with the help of an unlikely crew of cohorts and a stray beastie, nothing can stop Dare from finding out what happened to her father and exposing who the real monsters are.

About the Author

Alysa Wishingrad writes fantastical stories for young readers, tales that ask, Is the truth really true? Her favorite stories are those that meld the historical with the fantastic and that find ways to shine light on both the things that divide and the things that unite us all.She is the author of Between Monsters and Marvels and The Verdigris Pawn, which was a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Alysa lives in the Hudson Valley with her family and two demanding rescue dogs.You can visit her at alysawishingrad.com.