Sprout

Sprout has always hidden from the world—having antlers growing out of your head will do that. But when she hears that someone else like her might exist, she’s willing to risk her safety—and that of her town—to get to the truth. A fantastical middle grade adventure that is sure to grow on you.

Sprout isn’t what you would call a typical middle schooler (though who is typical in middle school?). But Sprout is unusual not because she rarely leaves the house (though she doesn’t), nor because she is abnormally tall (though she is), nor even because her name is Sprout and her mother works as a florist (actually that one is less unusual and more entirely her mom’s fault). Instead, Sprout is unique because of the tree-like antlers that bloom from her head, her plantlers if you will.

Sprout had gotten used to living in relative isolation…until she hears another girl has been spotted with wild antlers. Another girl who looks like her. Determined to see if there is someone else who understands the strangeness she feels, Sprout sets out. Along the way, she attracts the attention of EB, a boy whose unusual memory and sudden blackouts means he knows what it is to feel different, and a strange pair of twins who seem intent on tracking their every move.

A fast-paced, quick-witted, and marvelously fantastical adventure about learning to embrace who you are—thorns and all.

Author Biography

Taylor Tyng is an American author of fantastical fiction for young readers. His first novel, Clara Poole and the Long Way Round, was called “an engrossing and inventive flight through the skies” by Kirkus Reviews and a “soaring debut with echoes of Jules Verne and Roald Dahl” by Booklist. Its follow-up, Clara Poole and the Wrong Way Up was praised, “as winsome as ever,” by Kirkus Reviews. The idea for Sprout came from a drawing by Taylor’s daughter who sowed the seeds of this tale.