Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Synopsis
Edinburgh, 1874. Born with a frozen heart, Jack is near death when his mother abandons him to the care of Dr. Madeleine--witch doctor, midwife, protector of orphans--who saves Jack by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest. And it is in her orphanage that Jack grows up among tear-filled flasks, eggs containing memories, and a man with a musical spine.
Is The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
A whimsical, darkly poetic tale about a boy with a cuckoo clock for a heart raised by an eccentric witch doctor. Contains themes of abandonment and mortality but handled with fairy-tale gentleness and magical surrealism.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, mild sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include child harm, death, and abandonment (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
A magical story about a boy who must follow three rules to keep his mechanical heart ticking as he grows up in a Victorian orphanage filled with strange wonders.