Spotlight on Author Jessica Vitalis
Have you discovered author Jessica Vitalis yet? Her four middle-grade books have something for everyone.
Her debut, The Wolf’s Curse (2021), and its companion novel, The Rabbit’s Gift (2022), are fairy tale–like fantasies.
Set in a French-inflected world, The Wolf’s Curse is narrated by the eponymous wolf, who escorts souls of the dead to the afterlife. Gauge is the grandson of the village carpenter. He can see the wolf, which has led to his being ostracized and falsely accused of murder. With the blacksmith’s daughter, Gauge dedicates himself to clearing his name and proving to truth about the wolf.
The Rabbit’s Gift is about the angora rabbits who raise the cabbages that babies are born out of. Fleurine is the daughter of the head of the town where these cabbage babies are delivered. Her mother expects her to follow in her footsteps in politics, but Fleurine would rather study science. When a rabbit named Quincy steals carrot seeds from Fleurine, and she steals a cabbage from the rabbits, a mad chase is on to recover the stolen objects and set all back to the way it should be.
These two fantasies are told in winsome voices with vivid characters.
Vitalis entered the realm of realistic fiction for her next book, Coyote Queen (2023). Fud lives in a trailer with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, Larry. Larry used to be nice but as an injury gets in the way of his dream of being a boxer, he’s gotten meaner. Fud likes to ignore the fighting she can hear in the trailer by listening to the calls of the coyotes nearby. When Leigh and her mom Click move in next door, Leigh convinces Fud to enter a beauty pageant. Fud is certain that the prize money could solve all of her and her mom’s problems. Coyote Queen doesn’t shy away from the serious topics of domestic abuse and poverty, but handles them in a way that will not overwhelm middle-grade readers.
Vitalis’s latest book, Unsinkable Cayenne (2024), is going to be released on Oct. 29. I was lucky enough to get to read an advanced reader’s copy. This book-in-verse focuses on Cayenne and her family. Her parents are free spirits who prefer to homeschool their kids as they roam, but they are going to try a more settled life for a little while. Cayenne is looking forward to a different kind of existence but finds it hard to fit in. A school project on the sinking of the Titanic becomes a focus of her thoughts about life, class, and survival. Like Coyote Queen, this book shows an honest portrait of poverty. Some of the ’80s details made me grin (like perfectly tucked and rolled jeans).
With lots of options to choose from, I hope you’ll check out one of Vitalis’s great books and give it a read!