Woundabout

Grief is hard to write for middle-grade readers without either going too dark or going too soft, and Rosen mostly gets it right — the steampunk-fairy-tale wrapper gives kids enough imaginative distance to sit with real emotional weight. Kirkus called it appealing and pleasingly thoughtful, which is the right read: this is a quiet, meaningful book rather than a propulsive adventure. The slow opening is real, but readers who stay with it will find something genuinely worth their time.