Spirit Animals – The Book of Shane

Nick Eliopulos's The Book of Shane is a Spirit Animals story for 9 year olds about a young prince in a kingdom that's frightened of its own animals.

What happens

In the world of Spirit Animals, some children call up an animal partner. In Shane's country, Stetriol, that bond makes people ill. It's called the bonding sickness, and nearly everyone in Shane's family has it.

Shane is twelve, nearly thirteen, and a prince. His mother has died. His father the king lies in bed and doesn't speak. His sister Drina bonded with an enormous spider two years ago and hasn't been well since. Every morning Shane checks the corners of his room in case an animal has appeared in the night.

Meanwhile his uncle Gar is running the kingdom and building warships. And a mysterious prisoner called Zerif says he knows the cure.

It's a gripping, gloomy, clever book. Shane is proud and prickly and very lonely, and you really feel how trapped he is. When he pulls apart the little wooden fort his mum built for him and Drina, plank by plank, to make a boat and get away, it's one of the saddest scenes in it.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Drina, who's very ill, grabs Shane's sword and cuts his cheek with it. She coughs blood. A crocodile kills a kangaroo right in front of Shane, and it's described closely. And his father's so unwell because he killed his own spirit animal. Shane's also several years older than your reader, and the writing feels pitched older too.

So it isn't one for a sensitive reader. For a confident reader who loves a fantasy world with a bit of bite (and doesn't mind a big spider), it's a great read.

What to read next

It's set in the same world as the main Spirit Animals series, which begins with Wild Born. That one opens on the most important birthday of a shepherd's son called Conor, when he's about to drink the Nectar and find out if an animal will answer.