"The Ogress and the Orphans" Selected for the 2024 Alexandria Award
Kelly Barnhill’s The Ogress and the Orphans (2022), an engaging fantasy with familiar elements of a traditional fairy tale such as a dragon, an ogress, and magic, has been selected as the winner of the 2024 Alexandria Award by the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame.
The Alexandria Award recognizes a middle grade or young adult book that advances gospel values through positive actions and portrayals of tenacious adolescents. It is named for Saint Catherine of Alexandria, an adolescent Christian of the fourth century who was an eager student and a famed orator.
The Ogress and the Orphans is the story of Stone-in-the-Glen, a small town that was once famous for its full blossoming fruit trees and kind and loving townspeople who cared for one another and valued knowledge and learning. Shortly after the arrival of a pompous and ostentatious mayor, the library - which had been the center of the town - burned to the ground. Soon, the townspeople became hostile, judgemental, and distrustful. As the title suggests, the main characters are a family of fifteen orphans, who the narrator describes as loving “one another dearly, ever so much more than they loved themselves” and an Ogress who was also “hardworking and kind and generous. She loved others more than she loved herself.” The narrator adds, “This can be a problem, or course. Sometimes. But it can also be a solution. Let me show you how” (p. 2). The remainder of the story addresses the two quotes at the beginning of the novel, “Ignorance is the cause of fear” (Seneca) and “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” (Aesop). The quotes capture the themes of generosity, love of neighbor, and working for the common good which Barnhill seamlessly weaves throughout the story. Until the end, readers are not told who is narrating the long history of the town and the detailed events in the novel, but readers can rightly assume it is told by one who is wise and has witnessed the painful change of the town from loving and supportive to selfish and suspicious - bordering on paranoid.
When told her novel had been selected as the 2024 Alexandria Award novel, Barnhill replied, "I am so honored to win The Alexandria Award! I was writing that book at a time when things around us fell apart in a very real way, and so this question about what does it mean to be a neighbor, it was something I was wrestling with on the page but in the larger world too. One of the things I was hoping to get across while writing this book was the notion of people being transformed through the sharing of stories. Stories can lift us out of our every day so that we could look back on ourselves or on bigger truths, like how we can understand our own humanity and what we owe to one another."
Barnhill also shares in an interview with Alexandria Award founder Dr. Mike Macaluso and a team of local educators, "My biggest hope for this book, that it will be a reminder that kindness exists, and that connection exists, and that if you make a pie for your neighbor, your neighbor will be really happy, and it will make you happy to do it. This is how we can be the beloved community again, it’s inside of us all the time, we just have to bring it out. I'm thrilled that message will be shared with children in classrooms across the country."
Dr. Macaluso explains why the novel was the clear winner by stating, "The Ogress and the Orphans is a wonderful modern fairy tale reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. And like most fairy tales, its themes and messages are simple, clear, and speak to the basic goodness of our human nature. The effects of Christ's Golden Rule -- "to love your neighbor as yourself" -- resounds across the pages of this book, making it an engaging read for all ages. It was the standout winner this year!"
The Center for Literacy Education, which is housed in Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, created the award to respond to the need for high-quality, highly engaging contemporary books in classrooms and the desire of Catholic school teachers to teach classroom books - classic or contemporary - through a lens of faith and Catholic social teaching.
Copies of the book will be given to schools across the country, including local schools in South Bend, Indiana, and will be accompanied by a curriculum insert designed by an expert teacher offering a full, sample lesson plan – including suggested classroom learning goals, activities and discussion guides for thinking about the book through a lens of faith and Catholic social teaching.
St. Catherine is the patron of students, librarians and educators, and the award commemorates her youth, bravery, tenacity, enthusiasm for education and her home in Alexandria — famed location of the Great Library. St. Catherine boldly defended the faith and protested injustices of her time, including the persecution of Christians. Her efforts led to the conversion of hundreds of people before she was martyred at 18.
Previous winners of the Alexandria Award are When Stars Are Scattered (Mohamed & Jamieson), Scythe (Shusterman), and A Wish in the Dark (Soontornvat).
Classroom copies of The Ogress and the Orphans can be requested using this link while supplies last. A free complete unit, with materials linked to each lesson, is available using this link, and a supplemental curriculum document is available here.
