Odd and True by Cat Winters - ADVISABLE

Winters, Cat Odd and True, 368 pages.  Amulet Books, 2017.  $18.  Language: PG-13 (28 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 (unwed pregnancy); Violence: PG-13 (deaths by vicious animal)

Trudchen (True) has been living alone with her Aunt Viktoria since her older sister Odette (Odd) was sent to work in the city and then ran away.  Now, on the night if her fifteenth birthday, Odd is back and determined to take True with her to hunt the Leeds Devil, a vicious animal killing people along the East Coast.  Odd has raised True on a  steady of diet of magical stories, from True’s own miraculous birth to their other’s exploits as a monster hunter.  While True has limited use of one legs from a bout of polio, she is eager to embrace her family destiny as a monster hunter and learn all about Odd’s adventures with the circus these last two years.  What she doesn’t realize and that many people have been hiding very deep secrets from her her entire life.

Watching the story unfold through a mix of True and Odd’s points of view revealed a bit at a time, like slowly unwrapping a present.  As the reader, I had more information than True, which created a nice tension for the reader as True approaches the truth to her family story.  The epilogue is a sweet final flourish.

HS - ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher