The Stone Girl's Story

February 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-This inventive middle grade novel balances humor and magic. Mayka is a stone girl carved by her stonemason human "father" who also etched her animal companions. His death years ago has left them alone with only their fading carved markings. The marks tell their stories and allow them to move and speak; but as the marks erode, the creatures stop moving. Mayka leaves her isolated mountain home to travel to the city of Skye to find a stonemason and bring him back to help. Mayka and her flying stone bird friends, Risa and Jacklo, are confused by the hostility humans show them. The humans consider themselves the creatures' keepers. In Skye, stonemason Master Siorn, who found an injured Jacklo after he'd flown away and disappeared, delightedly agrees to help the stone creatures. He has carved many strange creations-all of which bear the same strange mark that Mayka can't interpret. She's horrified to realize the mark means they have to obey Master Siorn and aren't allowed to be free. Mayka and her companions must come up with a plan to save themselves before the marks disappear and to stop Master Siorn from continuing to carve the obedience mark on other stone creatures. Mayka is a strong, believable heroine that readers will root for. VERDICT This exciting adventure has moments reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, in which the protagonist must rely on herself and her friends to find inner courage and her way to safety. A solid purchase where magical fantasy circulates well.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 26, 2018
Featuring a richly diverse cast, vividly imagined worldbuilding, and passionate storytelling, Durst’s middle grade fantasy is a feast for the senses. Readers are immersed into the world of Mayka, who has lived on the mountain above the great city of Skye with her stone friends from the time her flesh-and-blood father carved her from stone. After his death, the stories and life force carved into the stone of Mayka’s friends begins to fade. In search of a stonemason to recarve their marks, the lifelike girl pushes past her comfort zone and travels to Skye with two flying stone friends, opening herself up to the people and places beyond her mountain. On the journey she learns secrets of her father’s past—and new ways to care for her chosen family. A storyteller at heart, Mayka is introduced to an entirely new world, one filled with frightening experiences and unexpected joys. Those she encounters—both flesh and stone—challenge her views of reality, encouraging her to reassess her perspectives to become even more accepting. Mayka’s strong independent streak is both celebrated and tempered by the satisfaction of working as part of a team. Durst presents engaging fantastical situations alongside ideas about how histories evolve and whose stories are told, in a gently thoughtful manner. Ages 10–up. Agent: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger.

January 1, 2019
Girl Mayka and her animal friends are living stone figures, but with their creator long dead, they're beginning to lose the magic that keeps them alive. In search of help, Mayka ventures down from their mountaintop home to the world of men. Durst has created a compelling fantasy world; this quiet novel's emphasis on storytelling, bravery, challenging assumptions, and friendship should have middle-grade appeal.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 1, 2018
A living stone girl leaves the isolated mountain where she lives to seek a stonemason who can keep her family alive.Father, a stonemason, was human. He carved their family: animals, two birds, and Mayka, a 12-year-old girl made from gray mountain granite. Stone beings don't cry, taste, sleep, or tire--but because Father carved marks on each one giving them life and their own unique stories, they move, talk, think, and feel. Since Father died, wind, water, and time have been wearing down the family's markings; recently, Turtle's markings so eroded that he stopped living. So Mayka gathers her courage and hikes down from their idyllic mountain into the city, accompanied by the flying stone birds. Her quest for a stonemason to recarve their markings leads to many revelations, each serious yet presented gently. As Mayka learns that Father was famous, that most stone beings serve flesh-and-blood "keepers," and that a city stonemason has invented a carving that enslaves, she begins to understand that she and her fellow carved creatures can interpret and stretch their own stories--even when those stories are literally carved in stone. Mayka's kindness and steady loyalty, her friends' animated and varied personalities, and some downright brilliant problem-solving will carve themselves into readers' memories.Thoughtful, colorful, strengthening, and understatedly tender. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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