School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up--Nicely preserved, the 2,000-year-old body of a small teen girl was found in a bog in 1952 on Windeby Estate in northern Germany. Master storyteller Lowry wondered why. Estrild becomes the main character in this fusion of history and fiction. Unlike other girls, Estrild desires to become a warrior during a time when women are expected to stay at home, cooking, cleaning, and raising the children. Her dear friend Varick, an orphan boy unwanted by society, is happy to help her train in the warrior ways. The friendship that ensues is carried out to a heartrending ending that provides one interpretation for how a young girl ended up dying and buried in a bog. VERDICT Expertly written and beautifully engaging, readers will be transfixed with actual photographs and more than one explanation of this grim mystery. A first purchase for libraries.--Tracy Cronce
Publisher's Weekly Review
Alternating via five sections between conversational history and evocative storytelling, Newbery Medalist Lowry creates a contemplative narrative around an Iron Age bog body found in northern Germany. A factual introduction describes the 1952 discovery of the 2,000-year-old body, Lowry's fascination with the "small-in-stature, middle school--age blond person" called the Windeby Girl, and the author's assembling known facts into a narrative to "solve the puzzle" of the figure's story. The first resultant telling centers 13-year-old Estrild, who longs to become the first female warrior in her Iron Age community and secretly practices warrior chants with her friend, budding naturalist Varick. A subsequent historical section reveals a recently discovered detail about the body, leading to a second fictional reimagining of the story involving Varick. In this brief, evocative work that examinines the past through a meta lens, a vividly sketched portrayal emphasizes the community's rigid gender roles and rhythms of daily life amid the natural world. Occasional art by Stroh links the sections with a recurring motif. Includes a bibliography, discussion questions, and b&w photographs. Ages 10--up. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary. (Feb.)
Horn Book Review
In 1952 the body of an Iron Age child was discovered in a bog in Germany. In this hybrid volume -- part fiction, part nonfiction -- Lowry takes the known archaeological facts of this real-life discovery and crafts them into two different stories. In the first, the child, a girl named Estrild, rebels against the restrictive role of women in her agrarian village and presents herself, with the boys, to be a warrior. She is killed, punished for her boldness. The second story's protagonist is Varick, a boy who had appeared as a supporting character in the first one. Disabled and neglected, he is a keen observer of nature, a thinker, a proto-scientist. He dies of pneumonia. Interspersed with each of these stories is an essay; in these, Lowry casts a wide net, covering the art and science of archaeology, natural history, Iron Age lore, and, most innovatively, her own process in writing historical fiction. In what ways can we connect to the past without imposing our own realities on a time that was so different? How does one's own life conform to the accepted shape of fiction? The stories are tightly woven and moving, built of gritty, convincing detail and written in the cadenced rhythm of which Lowry is a master. But it is in the essays that she tackles, head-on, big questions of mortality and meaning in a way that is most unusual, honest, and deeply respectful of her young audience. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A venerated author interweaves an archaeological mystery--the 1952 discovery in Germany of an adolescent mummified in a peat bog two millennia ago--with the stories it inspired her to write. The book opens by providing scientific and historical context from similar finds elsewhere and explaining how peat bogs preserve bodies and the way radiocarbon dating works. Lowry describes how she felt inspired to create a story for the Windeby Girl, whom she names Estrild, and whose tale follows, told in two linked stories. Estrild persuades Varick, a sickly boy, to teach her warrior skills forbidden to girls. When the druid priests next select the boys who will become warriors, Estrild's determined she will stand with them. A middle section describes how recent scientific discoveries changed theories about the Windeby Girl, leading Lowry to write the second iteration centering Varick. In the final part of the book, Lowry explains how it felt to tell the stories of these young protagonists and why she was compelled to do so. While both stories feature vintage Lowry strengths--strong worldbuilding, compassionate characters--it's the sections explaining her authorial decisions that stand out and will encourage readers to reflect upon how history is told and about whom. This book, her answer to probing questions, beautifully illustrates the interaction between idea and execution, illuminating the architecture of storytelling. Dramatic full-page art by Stroh as well as photographs add intrigue. Valuable metafiction for young readers. (photo credits, bibliography, historical notes, discussion questions) (Fiction/nonfiction hybrid. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
There are two sides to this book: In one, it shares the true story of an ancient body dug up from a north German peat bog in 1952. In the other, Lowry asks what might be the true tale of the bog discovery, and she imagines two fictional lives in the pondering of that story. In this unusual approach, she outlines the process of both wondering and writing, fleshing out possibilities for what befell the discovered Iron Age teen. Was the person in the bog male or female? Were they murdered or simply an accidental victim? Slowly, a picture emerges of the tough lives of these pre-Christian people, of how growing up within tight cultural confines could position some as outsiders. In the fictional portion, Estrild is a feisty girl who would prefer to be a warrior than do domestic chores. Her friend Varick is a disabled orphan scraping by in a community that ostracizes him. Which of these two unlikely friends was ultimately forgotten in the German swamp? Interspersing their stories with historical facts and info about the real bog discovery, now called Windeby I, and with news of anthropological advances, Lowry creates a mystery appealing to history lovers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Two-time Newbery medalist Lowry is something of a living legend, and the unusual approach of this latest historical fiction should draw interest.
