Publisher Description
From National Book Award winner Pete Hautman comes a mysterious modern-day fairy tale about developing a moral compass—and the slippery nature of conscience. For Annie’s tenth birthday, her papa gives her a pad of paper, some colored pencils, and the Klimas family secret. It’s called the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Every time Annie misbehaves, she has to write down her transgression and stick the paper into a hidey-hole in the floor of their house. But Annie’s inheritance has a dark side: with each paper fed to the burna, she feels less guilty about the mean things she says and does. As a plague of rats threatens her small suburban town and the mystery of her birthright grows, Annie—caught in a cycle of purging her misdeeds—begins to stop growing. It is only when she travels to her family’s home country of Litvania to learn more about the burna that Annie uncovers the magnitude of the truth. Gripping and emotionally complex, Pete Hautman’s inventive yarn for middle-grade readers draws on magical realism to explore coming of age and the path to moral responsibility.
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About Pete Hautman
Pete Hautman is
the author of many books for young adults and adults, including the National
Book Award winner Godless and The
Big Crunch, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He splits his time
between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
About Laura Knight Keating
Laura Knight Keating, an Audie Award-winning narrator, is an actress who has appeared on stage, in films, and on television shows, including Boardwalk Empire, Hope and Faith, and Lipstick Jungle.