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Available copies

  • 1 of 2 copies available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
  • 1 of 2 copies available at Lake Agassiz Regional Library. (Show preferred library)

Current holds

0 current holds with 2 total copies.

Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Bagley Public Library BAR (Text) 33500013594031 New Available -
Detroit Lakes Public Library BAR (Text) 33500013594049 New Checked out 06/07/2022

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780385548229
  • ISBN: 0385548222
  • ISBN: 9780593466575
  • ISBN: 0593466578
  • Physical Description: 340 pages ; 25 cm.
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Doubleday, [2022]

Content descriptions

Summary, etc.:
"Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this disturbing event: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and helping to raise a beloved younger girl obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the forced limitations of girlhood. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small-their lives and their prospects-and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve"-- Provided by publisher.
Reviews

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 March #2
    On April 25, 1955, 642,987 women transformed spontaneously into dragons—only for the world to turn its back and try to forget it ever happened. Dragons become a taboo topic like menstruation or female orgasm, embarrassing and inappropriate—and most of all, dangerous. In this fantastical satire by acclaimed fantasy author Barnhill (best known for award-winning middle-grade novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon, 2016), Alex Green tries to grow up in a world oppressed by a heavy, carefully enforced silence, a world in which young girls are raised amidst tightly wound limitations and underestimation. And in a fog of her own silence, she finds rage building in her chest. Barnhill's novel and its wild premise expertly satire the patriarchy and its machinations—from the suppression of information to the indoctrination of gender roles. The narrative turns female rage and joy into weapons, all while resisting the rigid gender binaries that gender-focused magic systems can fall prey to. It is infuriating in all the best ways and finds the raw magic within women's determination to break free. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Author Notes

KELLY BARNHILL has written several middle grade novels, including The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2017 John Newbery Medal. She is also the recipient of the World Fantasy Award, and has been a finalist for the SFWA Andre Norton Nebula Award and the PEN America Literary Award. She lives in Minneapolis with her family. 

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Genre: Fantasy fiction.
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