Elsbeth has discovered an extraordinary power but when people come looking for it because of it and her mum is kidnapped can she save her?

I enjoyed this childrens book - I liked the adventure aspect to it and how there are lots of different worlds in this book. I thought the characters in this book were really good and the plot line flowed really well. All in all a great read.

Alice M. Ross's "The Nowhere Thief" is an intriguing addition to middle-grade fiction, offering a unique premise that blends mystery and fantasy. While it may not have captivated me as much as other books in the genre, it still provides a solid reading experience with its imaginative storyline and well-developed protagonist. As a teacher, I appreciate the book's ability to spark curiosity and encourage students to think creatively about problem-solving and adventure. Though it may not have left a lasting impression, "The Nowhere Thief" serves as a good supplementary read, offering an opportunity for students to explore different styles of storytelling and expand their literary horizons.

Completely engrossing read for young and old alike. A super adventure and great writing. It is about a young girl in an alternative version of our world where London is Lunden and everything is slightly different but easily recognisable who can create openings to other worlds through a kaleidoscope.

A good idea for a story but for some reason I didn’t engage with it. I found Elsbeth annoying but she loved her mum and would do anything to help her including stealing valuables from other spheres. This draws the attention of both ‘The Council’ and Elsbeth’s grandmother. Who rules one of the other many spheres. I found the ending too neat.

I really enjoyed The Nowhere Thief. An intriguing and original premise, with great characters and pacing and some excellent twists along the way.

In a Nutshell: An imaginative debut work for middle graders. Great multiverse setup and relatable characters, coupled with unpredictable plot developments. Enjoyable!

Story Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Elsbeth has a secret power – she can sense gateways through ‘Nowhere’ to step into other ‘Somewheres’ and bring back unusual artefacts with her, to be sold in her mom’s little antique shop. However, the shop hasn’t been doing too well recently, the landlord is a mean jerk, and the poor weather means that tourists numbers and visitors to the town are dipping. To add to it, Elsbeth has the strange feeling that someone is following her, even into the unknown. Has her magical ability put her life at risk?
The story is written in a limited third person perspective, mostly from the point of view of Elsbeth.

The synopsis doesn’t even begin to cover the adventures lying in store for Elsbeth! I love it when a blurb reveals just as much as necessary.

Bookish Yays:
😍 An imaginative and adventurous storyline that caters to its little clientele perfectly.
😍 The world-building, or rather, multiverse-building. I loved how easily the various parallel universes were incorporated into a middle-grade story without its becoming too overwhelming for little readers.
(I am following the golden rule of not overanalysing the technicalities of travelling through the multiverse. I just went with the flow, as most middle-graders undoubtedly will, and relished the experience of reading without my logical cap on. )
😍 The writing balances pace and description well.
😍 The main characters, Elsbeth and Idris, both are relatable rather than perfect. They mean well, they make mistakes, they learn from their mistakes. More importantly, they learn the importance of working as a team.
😍 Even within a fantastical world, the book manages to highlight climate change and the dangers arising from the same.
😍 The book is set in an alternate universe, and so we have places like ‘Lunden’ and ‘Amerika’. (But India was still ‘India’ – how boring!) I liked some of the Easter Egg-kind of references to places and people from our own world but with minor changes. I am not sure if the target audience of middle graders will get all of these, but they are still fun additions.

Bookish Nays:
😔 One of the adult characters has an abrupt change of heart at the end. It was too quick to be believable.
😔 The ending is a bit rushed, with too much happening too quickly.

Despite the minor quibbles about the ending, I enjoyed this creative and entertaining debut novel. It has many adventures and thrills to keep its readers occupied. Definitely recommended to the target age group.

4 stars.

My thanks to Nosy Crow and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Nowhere Thief”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Multiverse stories are always fascinating, and this one is a wonderful fresh take on it. I love the idea of the kaleidoscope and the descriptions of the different worlds and how they alter a little bit as they work together. It's a fascinating thought, how different a life would be in different surroundings.

I got quite irritated on Elsbeth's behalf when Idris was dragging her around not telling her things, but he does eventually explain most of it. (I made a guess at a reveal surrounding them and was partly correct.) I loved him as a character, he was smart, loyal and brave. An excellent companion to Elsbeth herself.

Kids will love following the fast paced adventures and trying to figure out what's behind everything that's happening. It's a fabulous read and I can see a lot of scope for discussions afterwards! Definitely one of the best current releases.

I struggled to get into this at first, confused by the 'Nowhere' bit and the 'Somewheres' at the beginning weren't detailed enough for you to fully imagine. I was also unsure about Elsbeth essentially stealing as the reason for the story starting. There were some imaginative worlds created but others were thinly veiled references to actual places - like Disney was mentioned which I thought was a bit bizarre! I'd have rathered everything was made up.

The story really improved once Elsbeth had met Idris and I liked that there was more detail in his world, and the slowly dawning realisation of the links between them. Racine was a fascinating character but I wasn't sure about her ending - it didn't quite sit right. The story definitely ends with potential for more and I think many children would enjoy this.

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

I enjoyed this book. I liked the idea of being able to travel to different worlds and the thought that there might be places that are right next door but are slightly different. However, the idea that travelling like this has an impact on the world you live in and the world you travel to is an interesting and important topic of discussion. Even if you can do something, does that mean you should? There is also an important message in this book about being careful about who you put your trust in to. I think this book would be great to use in the classroom as it would provide lots of opportunities for discussion and for writing. You could write about different worlds that you might travel to and how they are different but also about the environmental impact of travel. I would definitely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this exciting, fun story of Elsbeth's adventures in (sort-of) parallel worlds. Elsbeth discovers she can pop into Nowhere, an updated Wood-Between-the-Worlds, and from there go into other, similar but different Somewheres. Things that appear to be junk in the other Somewheres turn out to be much more valuable in her world, when she takes them back with her, hoping to repair the fortunes of her mother's antiques shop. In other words, to get enough money to pay the overdue rent before the landlord evicts them. However, as Elsbeth discovers, actions have consequences, and it isn't long before she has to deal with some very unpleasant ones.
The idea of the 'Nowhere', although not new, is nicely executed with its kaleidoscope centre, and Elsbeth's means to enter and exit is fun. I’m not a fan of multi-verses generally but this one with the HostTech and HostNat worlds was fun. The plot is fast-paced and exciting with enough twists to satisfy, as well as leaving lots of possibilities for further adventures. For those interested, HostTech is short for Hostile Technology and HostNat for Hostile Nature. I think further exploration of those worlds is definitely called for!
Elsbeth is an endearing character and I really liked Idris, who, despite terrible treatment by his grandmother, keeps going, undeterred, and remains cheerful and sweet-tempered. One of my favourite parts of the story is the relationship between Idris and his grandmother, which gives depth and interest to the characters. While Racine’s story line is resolved perhaps a little conveniently, I enjoyed it.
The Nowhere Thief is a great story with wonderful characters, and an interesting world, so if you like middle grade fantasy, you should check it out..

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Elsbeth and how she accidentally discovers her ability to travel to other spheres. Throughout the story Elsbeth and Idris both show remarkable courage and great determination to get to the bottom of the mysteries that surround them. Who can they trust and who will betray them? With vivid descriptions of the different spheres and their various creatures, reader will be drawn into the worlds.
I hope there will be a follow up book featuring further adventures of Elsbeth and Idris.

I originally requested this book because it instantly reminded me of The Strangeworlds Travel Agency series which I really enjoyed. The Nowhere Thief doesn't disappoint. It's an action-packed multiverse adventure with danger, plot twists and a fast pace (always a good thing!). The characters felt real and relatable and the worlds were highly imagined. There's a great turning point when Elsbeth meets Idris and it moves into a new gear. I enjoyed the themes of friendship and identity and the exploration of environmental damage was handled deftly. There are opportunites for important discussion about morality and whether we should take things that don't belong to us, even if you are trying to do good. Great for middle-grade fantasy lovers and definitely fans of Strangeworlds.

This book is begging for a sequel! It is a great middle grade story with a believable, strong friendship at the heart of it. Elsbeth’s “Somewhere” is very similar to our own, and the story is in lots of ways timeless as both of the child characters have an old fashioned sensibility which will remain through the ages and will not date. There are a few twists and turns as the story progresses and the finale gives the impression that this whole book will be a prequel to a really meaty series following the two travellers on their journeys through the kaleidoscope. A thoroughly enjoyable read perfect for 9-12 year olds.

I really enjoyed this book, but it was a little disappointing. I wanted more time to explore the worlds that Elsbeth and Idris were going to but most of them they spent barely any time in. Even the main worlds they were in, Elsbeth's and Idris's own two worlds, were only sketchily made.

I was really sucked into the story though. I felt the characters were really sympathetic and I loved the description of the little cat like animals that existed in Idris' world.

The ending was another disappointment though. I felt that it all wrapped up a little too conveniently and without that much impact of the kids. Everything just fell into place and was fixed.

I would like to see more in this universe though as the concept and the characters were really intriguing

Everybody seemed to be talking about this book online, so I had very high expectations for this one.

The cover is very eye-catching and the first half of the first chapter is also very gripping. I was really intrigued at first but then everything just slowed down a lot. A shop selling stolen bits also does not sit too well with my conscience. I sometimes think that it is my dislike of anything about multiverse that has tainted my opinion.

The writing is really good though. I would definitely love to read future books by the same author because of that.
(Thanks to Net Galley for this Wonderful Novel!)

I loved this Middle Grade multiverse fantasy adventure story starring Elspeth a feisty explorer of the multiverse. Elspeth is trying to help her mother raise money for repeated exorbitant rent increases by stealing unusual objects from towns and villages similar to hers in the multiverse. But when she gets caught by the Ministry, befriended by Idris and her mother disappears she finds herself forced to solve the fracturing of the multiverse to rescue her mother and return to her sleepy seaside village home.
Elspeth and Idris are absolutely delightful characters created by debut author, Alice M Ross for one of my favourite kids' publishers, Nosy Crow. And they are on to another winner here - hopefully we get to see more of Elspeth and Idris in their follow up adventures. They are a lovely example of friendship and support and the adventures unfold in delicious ways.
Thanks to NetGalley and Nosy Crow for access to this e-arc. It was great fun to read.

This was, in the end, an enjoyable read. I found it a bit difficult to get into at first. Elsbeth hops into various alternate worlds but we don't hear much about them, not even about Victoria and her world, so I couldnt really see the point of the world jumping and i couldnt see where the story was going.

It all livens up though when Elsbeth meets Idris and from then on it is an entertaining story with some twists and turns and a good plot full of adventures and mystery and a bit of danger. I think it would stimulate a child's imagination. The characters and Idris' world are well drawn and described and the dialogue is authentic and the friendship between Elsbeth and Idris is realistic.

The ending is good, it finished this book but also leaves a hint that there could be other books to come.

Also, if the book was to be used as a springboard for other things there are a lot of activities a child could do based on the book - they could imagine alternate worlds of their own; they could create new animals; they could research our world to look for a world like Racine's; they could even research the meaning of the name of Racine and see if that fits in with the alternate worlds and could perhaps also learn about the dramatist Racine.

At twelve years old Eslbeth has recently discovered that she can travel to other worlds, or ‘somewheres’ as she calls them. Bringing back objects from these worlds to sell in her mother’s shop, Elsbeth is sure she is doing what she can to help her family. As she begins to travel more though she starts to notice things changing, and Elsbeth starts to question the price of her power.

This one is super easy to get in to. We jump straight in to Elsbeth’s world as she is already familiar with travelling, so we don’t go through the discovery process with her. I think in this case that works well because it means we get straight in to the action and don’t really have time for questions! We do get a bit of an explanation when she meets Idris which will help satisfy those curious minds out there.

I thought Elsbeth and Idris were great characters and I enjoyed reading about their friendship developing. Idris being the one to explain how things worked to Elsbeth was a great way to get the information across, and meant that things didn’t end up over complicated which is important for younger readers.

There was one thing that took away from the fun and enjoyment of the book for me, and that was the last few chapters. There’s a bit of an about turn for one of the characters that just didn’t fit with their personality so far in the book, and from there everything was wrapped up incredibly quickly and in ways that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the story. It was almost as if there was a page limit for the book and the ending had to be squeezed in.

All in all the book was a fun read, the story was fast moving and although it had plenty going on it was easy to follow for younger readers too. I do think it could have done to be marginally longer though so that the end events could have been explored in more detail.

Thanks to NetGalley and Nosy Crow for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The children adored this, it is exciting but a bit different. A story of family, friendship and travelling across different dimensions. We got so engrossed that I got into trouble with my children for reading later into the night that I should have on a school night.

A fantastical, world-hopping adventure that keeps the reader wanting to find out more from start to finish, The multiverse idea is not a new one but the author takes the science of bubble universes with different fundamental constants to another level. The quite brilliant idea of hostile and benevolent worlds that overlap as spheres made my head hurt a little and I loved the kaleidoscope concept and symbolism. The Marvel Multiverse is full of superhero’s wearing capes but Alice Ross’ sphere-traders are characters who the reader can really relate to. Elsbeth and Idris are insecure, unsure of their place in their respective spheres and their talents until they come together as an unstoppable and admirable team. The spheres that they travel to are wonderfully realised with similarities and huge differences and the concept of environmental damage is also expertly explored. A great read that would be a superb class read for Y4, Y5 or Y6 children, and one that has already been pre-ordered for my school reading ambassadors to read and recommend. I hope that I can enjoy some more adventures with Elsbeth and Idris in the not too distant future 🤞🏻