In a strange little village called Witchetty Hollow, eleven-year-old Florizel is the first to run into the curious visitors who’ve come to open a brand-new Daydream Delicatessen and sack-baby factory. At first, the poor folk of the Hollow are delighted – after all, who has the money to rent a real child from Storkhouse Services these days? But soon the daydreams turn sour. The Delicatessen’s products are expensive, and villagers trading their worldly goods in the newly-opened Pawnshop begin to disappear. With no money for rent payments, the real children of Witchetty Hollow are being reclaimed by Storkhouse Services at an alarming rate. Can Florizel and sack-boy Burble stop the daydream thieves’ evil business before it’s too late to save the Hollow?
The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams is a brilliant fairytale-like fantasy novel with sack babies, daydream sweets and some very sinister villains.
I was absolutely hooked from page one of this middle grade and raced through it to find out what happened. I'm looking forward to going back to the start with my daughter as I know she's going to love it too.
The world building was brilliant (rented children? Sack babies? Daydream sweets?) and the plot was very clever, with everything tied up neatly at the end. I also loved the friendship that developed between Florizel and Burble.
I would absolutely recommend this. Thank you to The Write Reads and Tiny Tree Books for letting me be a part of the tour