Review: Children of Owl - Darcie Little Badger

Genre: Young Adult Magical Realism/Fantasy

Published: Levine Querido, October 2026

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

"Community would counteract tragedy. At least, that’s what she hoped."

Upon finishing her debut novel Elatsoe back in 2020, I immediately knew that Darcie Little Badger was an author to keep an eye on. Now, 4 standalone novels and a handful of short-stories and collaborations later, I can comfortably consider her an all-time-favourite author. Perhaps even my personal favourite YA/children's author working currently. Children of Owl therefore was one of my most anticipated releases of 2026, and i'm delighted to say that it didn't disappoint.

The story:

We follow Maisie, a Lipan Apache teenager who lives in a small desert town that she knows to be cursed. Haunted houses, shapeshifters, death and violence that seems to follow the young men of her community around and an ever-present sense of impending doom that hasn’t left Maisie’s side since the death of her best friend. This impending doom takes the form of Owl – a winged boy who’s the son of Big Owl: the harbinger spirit of ill tidings and doom. Over the course of a summer, Owl and Maisy – both lonely creatures in their own right – embark on a joined quest to rid the town of its curse. They are assisted by Maisie’s two cousins; Verona – stuck house-sitting a haunted property – and Joel – fostering a cat who isn’t quite a cat…

What follows is a tale of adventure, friendship, community and healing.

What I loved:

Children of Owl shines in exactly the areas that Darcie Little Badger’s previous books did before. She’s a master at creating lovable, memorable characters that stick with you. More specifically, she’s a master of writing communities of characters and their interactions. Friendship and (found-) family are at the core of many of her stories. The warmth and comfort that bring, is a wonderfully balanced contrast against the darker themes that she incorporates in her narratives.

Darcie’s stories have all been deeply rooted in Lipan Apache culture, both modern and traditional. Supernatural- and often even quite whimsical elements of mythology are used to explore the very true horrors of poverty, addiction, injustice and prejudice faced by the native communities. These themes are not easy to approach in a book aimed at young people. A lesser author would allow such a story to become preachy, bleak, or even downright hopeless. Darcie counterbalances them with the perfect amount of whimsy, hope and love.

It’s for that reason that I picked the quote at the start of this review, as it captures the philosophy at the heart of Darcie Little Badger’s work for me. That tragedy and curses are a reality of life, but that friendship will make grief bearable, and community will eventually break the cycle.

What I didn't love:

The single reason that places this book a little below the likes of Elatsoe for me, it it’s chosen format. Specifically, the inclusion of illustrations and graphic novel-panels. Largely, this is a personal preference more so than a reviewer's opinion. I'm not a fan of graphic novels in general, and the specific style of the illustrator (although objectively wonderful) is too cartoony for my personal liking. Had, for example Rovina Cai, who did Elatsoe and Sheine Lende, provided the illustrations; I would've personally been all over that.

Setting my preferences aside, from a reviewer's perspective, I still don't think the graphic novel pages felt fully integrated in the story. They are too sporadic for me to fully call this novel "mixed media", but present enough to significantly impact the reading-experience. I also struggle to see why this story in particular benefited from them. When making a bold stylistic choice like mixed-formating, authors often have a specific reason for it. For example: a visual format might help them convey a message that words simply cannot translate. Other times, there might be a relation to the themes or subject of the story. For example: a protagonist who is an illustrator themselves.

In these cases, graphic novel elements can feel truly connected to the story, rather than a stylistic gimmick. In the case of Children of Owl, I didn't really feel that connection.

I obviously cannot recommend this book (and author) enough. Preorder now, or make your way to the bookstores on October 6th to pick up this gem!

Many thanks to Levine Querido for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

You can find this book here on Goodreads.