Witchlings

Witchlings is the first installment of a three book series by Claribel A. Ortega. Scholastic praises the books as “perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers or Harry Potter” (“Witchlings,” Scholastic Kids, 2024). Like the Witchlings series, B. B. Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers (2021) is a middle grade fantasy novel about a 12-year-old girl who embarks on a journey of self-discovery and fights against prejudice. The first Witchlings book, which was published in 2022, introduces Seven, Thorn, and Valley and their magical but inequitable world. The novel received acclaim for its celebration of diversity and the way it addresses difficult subjects, such as social exclusion, child abuse, and the loss of a sibling. 

In 2023, Ortega published The Golden Frog Games. In this sequel, the Witchlings’ town of Ravenskill hosts a magical tournament. This premise is similar to the Triwizard Tournament Hogwarts hosts in the fourth installment of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000). Thorn competes in the Golden Frog Games using the fashion skills she displayed in the first book. When someone turns her competitors to stone, the Witchlings are suspected of foul play and must work together to uncover the true culprit. Like the first book in the series, the sequel blends adventure with mystery and explores the power of cooperation. At the end of Witchlings, Seven learns that she can talk to animals and will be the next Town Uncle. The Golden Frog Games continues the series’ themes of self-discovery and trust as the protagonist trains as a future Uncle and works to heal the rift between Ravenskill and nature after Birch’s treachery. Additionally, Seven is alarmed by her continued ability to hear the Nightbeast, the monster she and the Witchlings defeated in the first book. Valley begins dating a girl named Graves Shadowmend in the second book, adding another dimension to the series’ celebration of diversity.

The third installment of the Witchlings series, House of Elephants, was published in 2024. In this book, Seven and Thorn try to break the stone hex that petrified Valley in The Golden Frog Games. Ortega’s books explore real-world psychological and emotional issues, such as the anger Valley feels as a survivor of child abuse in the first book and the survivor’s guilt Thorn grapples with in House of Elephants. Compounding the Witchlings’ struggles, privileged witches pass “more unfair laws that ban Spares from using magic and being equals in Twelve Towns society” (Ortega, Claribel. “Witchlings: Book 3,” Claribel Ortega, 2024). The continued attacks on Spares’ rights develop the theme of systems of exclusion and disenfranchisement, which is a constant thread throughout the series. 

Eventually, Seven and Thorn discover that they and the Twelve Towns’ other Spares are part of a secret sixth coven, the titular House of Elephants. This revelation advances Ortega’s message of achieving self-discovery through adversity.