There are a few aspects of this book that may surprise some parents.
The Winter King is described as the town’s ‘god’. This is continued through much of the story. There are times when we hear prayer, but then realize it is to this “Winter King”.
There are creatures who lurk in the woods of the village. They are described as “the undead”. They won’t enter town, but will snatch villagers who wander too close to the tree-line. A comment is made that if a body was ever found it was hardly recognizable. Note that there is very little of this “horror-like” content in the book outside of this, making it seemingly out of place.
There is other intense content that may steer some parents away. Several past events are described. In one three boys died in a world attack. In another a wicked man is said to have beat a maid who missed work. There is a key flashback to a man ice fishing and falling in through the ice and drowning. She sees a wolf and worries it may “rip her throat open”. Cora is beaten with a belt by an evil man (gives some detail) and later pinned to the wall and choked by a wicked boy. At one point a good wolf grabs a villain by the throat and drags him away with a large trail of blood.
There is some pseudo-spiritual content from the village. Green tassels are sold to ward off evil spirits. At another point they wish they could summon a spirit to sprinkle a sleep spell. In another instance we hear of someone hoping “to all the gods”. At one point she sees her dad and later her brother who have passed away in ‘spirit’ form (meant to be good, not dark).
The main character Cora lies quite often to get out of dangerous or tricky situations. It should also be noted that the book, told through her eyes, is very bleak for the vast majority of the story. Mature readers will realize she has been put in an impossible situation and that is what has driven her to bitterness and negativity, but for others this may make this title not be the right choice. This presents itself in many ways (e.g., calling a girl she knows “a wretch of a daughter”, thinking other very unkind thoughts and justifying negative actions). At one point when a girl who is very unkind to her has her mother die Cora thinks, “now she knows how it feels”). At one point when things get really dark Cora start to believe that there is “no on out there” (implying no God, this is later changed a bit, but dark thoughts at the moment for a kids book).
Other items to be aware of:
The yearly elk sacrifice is described in a decent amount of detail, including blood spilling and flowing down the temple steps.
Luck is mentioned several times.