Sheine Lende A Prequel to Elatsoe

By: Darcie Little Badger

Published by Levine Querido, 2025-09-09

Best of the Year: NPR - Common Sense Media - BookPage - Kirkus



Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can't afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood - and the loss of Shane's father and her grandparents. They don't think they'll ever get their home back.



Then Shane's mother and a local boy go missing, after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent - who isn't to be trusted - set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world - or this place in time.



Nevertheless, Shane is going to find them.



Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe launched her career and in the years since has become a beloved favorite. This prequel to Elatsoe, centered on Ellie's grandmother, deepens and expands Darcie's one-of-a-kind world and introduces us to another cast of characters that will wend their way around readers' hearts.



P R A I S E

STAR - "A classic fantasy adventure and a balm for any soul weary of oppression."

-Kirkus (starred)



STAR - "A wonderful addition to the Elatsoe universe with vital representation, worthy of any YA collection. Highly recommended."

-School Library Journal (starred)



STAR - "Allows readers to absorb each inventive twist, unexpected encounter, jolt of creepy menace, and dreamy illustration."

-Booklist (starred)



STAR - "With elements of Lipan Apache oral history, fantasy, and mysteries, the captivating novel Sheine Lende follows found and inherited family members as they persevere."

-Foreword (starred)



"Epic."

-Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books



"Gritty, luminous... beguiling."

-Shelf-Awareness



"Darcie Little Badger is so good at what she does, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next."

-Locus Magazine