An Emotional Journey: Night Animals Book Review

It’s always been Nora and her mother taking on the world together, but lately it’s started to feel like it’s just Nora vs. the world. While her mother navigates post-traumatic stress from her job as a paramedic, Nora navigates her own complex feelings — not the least of which is a growing sense of loneliness. It seems Nora may be destined for a solitary life orbiting her broken mother, until shimmery ghostly animals begin to appear that no one else can see. Each one seems to be guiding her towards something or someone. It’s when she’s chasing after one such animal that Nora meets Kwame, the boy who may just be the key to finding her way back to a normal life.

The Night Animals is a tender, at times raw, narrative with lots of emotions for middle-grade readers to explore. The underlying message is one of hope, reducing the stigma in seeking help for mental health struggles or bullying.

This wholesome and well-written novel was declared the “book of the month” by Waterstones in January 2023.

Content notifications: mental health, medical trauma, PTSD.