Heartseeker, by Melinda Beatty

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Heartseeker
Written by Melinda Beatty


Beatty has a good idea here: a girl with the rare gift of finding truth and reading people’s emotions is sent on an adventure to save the kingdom. Though the main character, Only Fallow, can see lies, she does not know whom to trust. Neither does the reader. Beatty does a great job of humanizing the characters by showing both their faults and good intentions, so the reader has to really think about where to place their loyalties. The main problem with the book is not the story, but the writing style. The tale takes place in an older time, so Beatty uses an older form of language and dialect. The fifth grader that asked to review the book, brought it back to me a few days later because it was hard for her to understand the words and phrases. She only made it through 2 chapters. Once I started reading it, I saw the reason for her struggle. It was tedious for me to get through the first several chapters because of the writing style. Older readers should be able to catch onto the unusual language after three or four chapters, but younger readers probably won’t bother. And seeing that the target audience is mid-grade, not upper grade, this is indeed a valid concern. Which is a shame because the story idea is interesting and clever

Review by Teresa Edmunds, Westbrook Elementary Media Center
Rating: ★★★½✩ (3.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 4-7

Heartseeker
Written by Melinda Beatty
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
327 pages
Release Date: June 5, 2018
A review copy was provided by the publisher.

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