Robin by Sarah Ann Juckes illustrated by Linde Faas

Eddie is the older brother. His sister, Scarlet, has been unwell ever since she was born - she has serious heart issues and has been in and out of hospital. Eddie does love his sister but he is now tired of being the 'good boy' and tired of coming second with his parents. His feelings have been building up and up and they make him feel so desperately guilty.

While Scarlet is in hospital this time Eddie goes to stay with his uncle John who lives near a wild forest. His uncle tells Eddie about some of the special trees:

"I always found the trees to be the most excellent listeners ... particularly for secrets that we don't feel we can tell a person yet."

Eddie goes to the forest and he expresses some of his pent-up feelings and rage inside one of the hollow tree trunks. Oddly he then meets first a tiny robin and then a strange girl. She talks about hunting monsters and also about being brave. At school Eddie meets another boy named Richard and he seems to offer similar advice about being bold and brave. 

Scarlet meanwhile has her operation and (spoiler alert) she is fine. This seems to mean there is no longer any need for the forest girl named Mari to exist. 

Publisher blurb: Eddie feels invisible - his sister Scarlet isn't well and nobody seems to remember that he's here. Out in the forest, as the ice hardens and winter gets deeper, the world is quiet. But there's a monster deep among the trees - a monster that's growing with every sad and angry thought Eddie says out loud. When a little red bird takes him to meet Mari, a strange and fierce girl with blurred edges just like him, she shows Eddie how to be loud, how to make new friends at school and enjoy the music he loves again.  As Scarlet's big operation approaches and Eddie gathers his courage to finally be heard, will he find his way back through the snow and put the monster to rest once and for all?

Robin is a strange story. Even now, days later, I am not sure quite what this story was trying to say. And I had one unresolved plot point when Uncle John seems to know this girl?

"I met a girl yesterday, ... she was wearing strange clothes and carrying a knife and bow and arrow. And she was sort of see-through, like a ghost. But she didn't feel like a ghost. She said she was a story, so I don't know."

At its heart this is a story about healing and identity and finding your voice. I did like the term used by one review - glass siblings. Sensitive readers aged 10+ who enjoy emotional stories and magical realism could enjoy this book. The cover certainly enticed me.  Each of these reviews has more plot details:

The main character starts to become bolder as he explores his wintery landscape and finally finds his voice to make sure that he is heard and not forgotten. The story is very powerful and explores themes of illness within a family and the effect it has. It shares an important message through great imagery which is then coupled with the beautiful illustrations ... Books for Topics

Over time, Eddie learns to do things for himself and finds his voice. He learns that he doesn’t always need to be a good, quiet boy – it’s ok to be angry and release the monster inside, to be true to himself – to be fierce, fearless and loved. Robin is a story of empowerment, friendship and hope. Set in the snowy forest, it’s the perfect winter read ... Scope for Imagination

It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming to watch Eddie realize that the monster in the woods isn’t a villain to be defeated by a sword, but a manifestation of his own suppressed grief. By trying to stay quiet and brave, he has actually been feeding the beast.

I saw Robin in one of our Sydney bookstores - The Constant Readers. Very strangely the hardcover edition was only AUS$18. This book is fairly new - published in 2025. I quickly read a few reviews while I was in the shop and they all praised this book.

Sarah Ann Juckes writes books for young people. Her YA debut Outside (Penguin) was nominated for the Carnegie Medal Award 2020, shortlisted for Mslexia’s Children’s Novel Award, and longlisted for the Bath Novel Award. Her second YA novel, The World Between Us was published in March 2021, and The Hunt for the Nightingale was her first Middle Grade Novel. She works with writers from all over the world via Jericho Writers and is on the board for Creative Future – a charity supporting under-represented writers. You can often find her hibernating in her writing shed in East Sussex, with her cat.

I mentioned this book here

You can see more books illustrated by Linde Faas here. Linde lives in Norway. I previously mentioned her IBBY Silent book in this post from 2019.