Sheine Lende: A Prequel to Elatsoe

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

Author: Darcie Little Badger
Publisher: Levine Querido
Published: 09/09/2025
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.19h x 5.51w x 0.79d
ISBN: 9781646145836
Audience: Young Adult


Award: Hugo Award - Winner

About the Author
Darcie Little Badger is a Lipan Apache writer with a PhD in oceanography. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Elatsoe, was featured in TIME as one of the best 100 fantasy books of all time. Elatsoe also won the Locus Award for Best First Novel and was a Nebula, Ignyte, and Lodestar finalist. Her second fantasy novel, A Snake Falls to Earth, received the Newbery Honor, was a LA Times Book Prize Finalist, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Darcie is married to a veterinarian named Taran and splits time between California and Texas.

Rovina Cai is a freelance illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. She works out of an old convent building that is possibly haunted. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and the Children's Book Council of Australia. Recently she has illustrated books by Patrick Ness and Margo Lanagan. Instagram @rovinacai