The Raven’s Gift by Kiran Millwood Hargrave – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: tragedy, anger, responsibility, understanding, hope.
Children’s book title: The Raven’s Gift.
Children’s author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
Children’s illustrator: Tom de Freston.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Starboard.
ISBN: 9781510113244.
Recommended for children aged: 10+.
First published: Hardback, October 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: discussing how loss in all forms is experienced differently by everyone involved, and how talking to someone, rather than keeping everything inside, can help. Also, whether being responsible for another living creature can make you see the world a little differently.
Trigger Warning: death of a sibling (sister), which is the main focus but happens before the book begins.
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Our review:
Harry is angry. There’s a big black emptiness inside him which fills and empties explosively over and over, sometimes without warning. It’s all Frankie’s fault, of course. Why did she have to go and die anyway?
When Harry finally ventures into Frankie’s room after she dies, he finds a book, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, which seems quite fitting as there is an actual raven in the tree outside her window. Gradually, hesitantly, Harry begins to understand the link between the book and the bird, but his sister had made seemingly incomprehensible notes in the margins, something he’d never seen her do before, and eventually he realises that they all relate to her observations and interactions with the raven she called Nevermore.
As he takes over the responsibility of observing Nev, as he prefers to call him, Harry feels the small shoots of reality, just occasionally, and begins to reconnect with his friends and even plays computer games with them again. But his loss, his loneliness, is still there, even when he realises he and his parents aren’t the only ones feeling this way. There are others who are missing Frankie and struggling themselves but want to include Harry in anything they do to keep her memory alive.
Unfortunately, in his grief-stricken state, he makes a disastrous miscalculation, and the loss and humiliation mix together, changing him even more, until the lies, the mistakes, and the omissions begin to overwhelm him. The raven, however, is still there, his one constant, until one day he’s not, but the gift he’s left behind, the hope it carries with it, might just be what Harry needs, if only he can push on and finish what both he and Frankie, in their own individual ways, started.
Our verdict:
The Raven’s Gift is a beautiful book but not an easy read. Harry’s heart is broken. He knows what happened, but accepting or even understanding it is a different matter entirely. This story, his journey, is told solely through his eyes, as he takes over the mantle of raven watcher from his sister and discovers things about her he would never have known otherwise. His grief, his anger, his loneliness are palpable, and for any reader, whatever age, who has lost a loved one, his overwhelming emotions will be easily recognisable.
The helplessness of his parents, who obviously are equally traumatised, and that of Frankie’s friends, especially Charley, are secondary to his own; they annoy him, or go unnoticed, as he struggles with emotions too overwhelming for him to identify, other than as a response to his loss. His inability to reach out means his relationship with Frankie’s raven takes precedence over everything else, and this is shown, without hiding anything, as his life becomes filled with lies, evasion, and humiliation until, just as the storm whips up and fractures the precious hold the ravens have on their existence, the path he has chosen does the same until, finally, he realises that nothing he needs to do can be done alone.
The acceptance of his tragedy and the life he has to live afterwards is told in such a way that, although not written in the first person, the reader is there, in Frankie’s room, Charley’s car and his mum’s grasp; and his raw grief, although not dwelt on, is powerful enough to leave the reader in no doubt as to how troubled, foolish, but resolute he has been.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Harry didn’t like his sister very much, but he loved her. Do you think that is quite normal if you have brothers or sisters.
- Ravens are big, powerful birds who leave gifts in return for food, but only when they trust you. What types of things do they leave? Look up ‘birds who leave gifts’ to find your answer.
- This book covers a very difficult subject. Do you think it is easier to understand how someone might feel, and how you could help, by reading a fictional account?
- Harry found out how to feed and care for the ravens online. Look up this information and design a poster to show the life cycle of a raven and what help you should and shouldn’t give it.
Many thanks to Starboard for the review copy.
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