How to Heal a Gryphon

Ages 8 to 12

Fablehaven meets Love Sugar Magic in How to Heal a Gryphon by Meg Cannistra, a story about an Italian girl who is torn between her passion for magically healing animals and her family’s desire for her to follow tradition. But when her brother is taken, it suddenly seems her powers are all that can save him.

To save her family, she’ll have to make a dangerous bargain and tip the scales of balance. With her thirteenth birthday just around the corner, Giada Bellantuono has to make a big decision: will she join the family business and become a healer or follow her dreams? But even though she knows her calling is to heal vulnerable animals, using her powers to treat magical creatures is decidedly not allowed. When a group of witches kidnaps her beloved older brother, Rocco, and her parents are away, Giada is the only person left who can rescue him. Swept into the magical underground city of Malavita, Giada will need the help of her new companions to save her brother—or risk losing him forever.

About the Author

Meg grew up in Sarasota, Florida where she spent her adolescence writing horror and fantasy stories and dreaming of living in a lighthouse. While her lighthouse dreams may not have been realized (yet), she’s still writing about things that go bump in the night. She has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University, and her first middle grade book, The Trouble with Shooting Stars, is currently on shelves. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching teen shows and movies from the early ‘00s, antiquing for haunted dolls, and reading about unexplainable phenomena. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and rambunctious cats, Doom and Fester.