The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke is an exciting children’s adventure that will appeal to ages eight and above. This book will entertain no matter how old you are.
The novel is set in Amsterdam in 1892. It follows five orphans who are deemed ‘unadoptable’. Following clues, the orphans set out to find the family of one of their number. Each one desires to be a part of a forever family. They desire to belong.
The orphans are unique, plucky and determined. They face life as one unit and try to right wrongs along the way. Together they have a heart for the lost, the lonely and the different.
Each child has a gift. Each gift is unique to that child. Together they use gifts as they band together in love and loyalty.
The Unadoptables was a unique read. I loved it. This is the perfect book to buy for your children or grandchildren. It will bring out the child in you.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Beautiful cover that caught my eye and a lovely story about 5 orphans. They may all come from different walks of life but they band together as a family to try and find Milou's long lost family.

Set in Amsterdam we follow the children as they escape from the clutches of the evil matron in charge of the orphanage they have all lived in since they were babies.

Beautifully written with strong characters, I was completely hooked and couldn't stop reading.

Highly recommended.

The Unadoptables caught my eye because its adorably whimsical cover, and I'm so glad to have read this wonderful tale of friendship and found family during this bleak and trying time.

I've always loved reading children's fiction for they have this wondrously cosy and endearing quality that much of adult fiction tend to lack. For me, it also never failed to harken back to my very early bookworm days as I devoured books in droves. All the Enid Blyton books that my extended family had could not satisfy my curiosity and yearning to explore through books. I could still recall my old and tattered paperback of The Children of Willow Farm that I've read at least a dozen times, and how much I wanted to live in a farm just like Rory, Sheila, Benjy and Penny. Or how much I wanted to attend a boarding school like Elizabeth Allen from The Naughtiest Girl in the School, or Darrell Rivers of Malory Towers that I've given myself the same English names during my middle grade and high school years.

Anyway, I've been digressing. The Unadoptables is author Hana Tooke's debut and it has all the makings of a classic. Set in the late 19th century Amsterdam, the period flavour lends timeless quality to the story of five unusual orphans who have been left at The Tulip Orphanage in a most unacceptable manner (according to the rules). For twelve years these five remained in the orphanage, deemed 'unadoptable' by the Elinora Gassbeek, its cruel matron. Milou, Lotta, Sem, Fenna and Egbert (more affectionately known as Egg) have grown into very distinguished and precocious individuals.

From the bravest to the smartest, the most talented and kindest of all of Amsterdam, these five exceptional children found themselves on an unexpected escapade on one fateful winter night. The tenacity, ingenuity, love and loyalty shown by these marvellous kids were charming and heartwarming to say the least. And there's nothing childish about the writing as well, which made it even more suitable for adults who already enjoy reading children's fiction. In fact, I was delightfully surprised with how brilliantly atmospheric and gothic the story was. To cap it all off, the book illustrations by Ayesha L. Rubio were wonderful and made the reading experience even more magical.

So, kick back with your Stroopwafels, a cup of coffee or tea, and let The Unadoptables whisk you away to 19th century Amsterdam for a fun and gothic adventure that will warm the cockles of your heart.

Absolutely loved this beautiful and completely original story and i highly recommend it.

We follow the story and adventures of five unadoptable children after they are forced to escape their orphange.
Absolutely loved the writing style and the pace of the book is great and really holds attention well which for me is the most important as if my attention drops then i do struggle to continue with the book. I didn’t find this at all with this book which i was really hoping wouldn’t happen as i had high expectations for the book.
I have to say my expectations weren’t dashed at all and i was utterly thrilled.

The characters were really well developed and you could really bond with each one throughout the book and i loved the found family trope.

Absolutely fantastic and like i said i really can’t wait for the physical copy

Holy Gouda, what a spectacular story! From the very first page of this delicious debut I was immediately mesmerised by this tale of friendship, belonging and daring adventure.

Set amongst the icy canals and sleek velvet thread of 19th Century Amsterdam, in the utterly dreadful Little Tulip Orphanage, reside five curiously unique 'unadoptables’, who long for a home and freedom away from the cruel clutches of their child-hating matron, Elinora Gassbeek. But when a sinister sea captain threatens to tear the gang apart, a daring moonlit escape across the countryside is their only hopes of staying together. But dastardly villains, curious clock makers, and lifelike puppets lurk in the shadows of their new-found safe haven, testing the gang’s unbreakable bond to the very limits.

Hana Tooke’s storytelling skills are royally breathtaking and she has absolutely mastered an open-ended narrative of mystery and suspense! From the whimsical Dutch setting to the hair-raising mysteries, to the thrilling gothic intrigue and the courageous acts of love, Tooke has spun a shimmering web of warmth, wit and wonder. I'm already desperate to escape back into this dazzling world and the exciting epilogue hints that this might already be in the cards!

Perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket, The Unadoptables is a magical book to absolutely fall in love with. 5 glorious stars from me!

Five unadoptable orphans are forced to flee their orphanage in 19th century Amsterdam and fall into a whole lot of trouble in this compelling and magical middle grade adventure.
I loved the world that is presented here, with Amsterdam taking centre stage as almost another character to the tale. The city comes to life in its descriptions, taking on a murky and mysterious edge that feels very much like a Dickens tale for children. I was completely caught up in the world, and when combined with the rather wonderful writing style, I couldn’t put this down. The pacing is great too – action packed and quick, this grabs the reader from the start and never lets go until the final sentence. Setting it in a place other than the typical London also adds to its charm and originality.
The characters, although there are rather a lot of them, all feel very well developed and individual with their own set of ‘quirks’ and diversity galore with their own distinct voice. This is very much Milou’s story, with the adventure following the search for her family, but I feel I would not have been as invested in her story if it wasn’t for the other characters joining her on her journey to find them. They are the very definition of a ‘found family’. That said, I did find a lot of the secondary ‘villainous’ characters a little underwhelming and overly stereotypical. There’s no subtly to their characterisation.

Highly original and wonderfully written, this feels like a modern take on a traditional style of storytelling that promotes the wonders of found families and whimsical storytelling. Highly recommend.

The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke is one of my favourite books of this year so far!

In this book we follow 5 orphaned children: Lotta, Egg, Fenna, Sem and Milou. There are rules for children to be left at the Little Tulip Orphanage, and all five of these children broke them. 12 years later they were known as the unadoptables. The matron Gassbeek, who is very cruel to the children, invites a strange man to the orphanage one night and summons the five down. When Milou instincts kick-in, she and the other four know that they cant get adopted by the strange man and runaway.

They take all the things that they came in, however it is Milou who has the most clues as to who left her behind. They follow a clue to a mill in the countryside outside Amsterdam where they come across more clues, curious adults and a way to find Milou's parents.

Going through the characters, each of them are great in their own way. Lotta is a the scientific one, using the extra finger on each hand she was born with to create things that make their lives easier. She is determined and inquisitive, but also willing to go along with Milou's more imaginative schemes. Egg is a delight, his skill at art and drawing show him to be enchanted by the world around him, and therefore enchanting us to him. Fenna is a girl of very few words, but her compassion for all animals let us see her personality and her kindness to all. Sem has a talent for sewing, can fix up any hole and even make his own designs. He definitely gives off the older brother vibes, keeping them all in check. And last but not least, Milou who is the story teller of the group, her imagination gives them all hope that they can find a place to finally call home. She is stubborn but when it comes to her family, is will give up her own chances at finding her parents to help them too.
I am a sucker for found family, and this story truly encompasses the familiar love you can find in others who were not born in to the same family but become one nonetheless.

The atmosphere was fantastically written, being set in winter,I loved the eerie feelings from the old mill and the surrounding area, like the skeletal tree. The tension in the book is so good, its thrilling to read as there are so many things that can go wrong for 5 orphaned runaways.

I can't wait to see what the author brings out next, not sure if she will continue in this world but she certainly could with how the story ended.

Overall, just a fantastic read, with amazing kids and a wonderful story.


Thank you to Penguin Random House UK Children’s and Netgalley for an early eArc of the book.

Five very unique but outcast children have been labelled 'unadoptable' by the manager of the orphanage where they were all abandoned as babies. When this unscrupulous woman tries to sell the children they run away and embark on an adventure that will test them all. Will they each find the family they are looking for?

Milou is the main focus of this book and I do love her even if she is a little single minded sometimes. She does come to realise the value of the family she has even if it may not be exactly what she had been dreaming of. Each of the children have wonderfully individual personalities and I adored them all, Lotta is a genius child, Fenna is a quiet kind soul, Sem is dedicated and caring and Egg is clever and brave. The plot was well thought through and gripped me all the way through, I saw a couple of things coming but there were still some good surprises too.

I definitely recommend for anybody who wants a fun middle grade adventure story with some truly lovely characters.

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A group of orphans band together to find Milou's long lost family, using clues gathered over the 12 years she has lived at the Little Tulip Orphanage. Set in Amsterdam we travel across canals, windmills, puppet theatres meeting, fortune tellers, clock makers, puppeteers and Dolly!. A book full of mystery, dastardly villains and daring deeds and courageous acts of love that show the Unadoptables: Milou, Fenna, Sem, Lotta and Egg, what family really is. A fantastic books full of characters that all readers of all ages will fall in love with,

I wanted to wait until #Believathon before I started this book for a couple of reasons. The first is, I don't read Middle Grade or Children's books very often, and the other is, when I have read Middle Grades or Children's, they don't evoke the same wonderment as the children's books I read when I was - you know - a child. I can read YA for days but there's always been some marshland I can't find my footing in when it comes to Middle Grade. 

Believathon is a readathon created by Gavin Hetherington (Although everyone knows him by his Booktube title: How To Train Your Gavin) to encourage readers to engage with Middle Grade. I've got 4 books lined up alongside The Unadoptables, and I'm hoping (with the use of his gorgeous map!) that I'll be able to finally navigate those marshlands and discover some Children's books that can rival those of my childhood. 

I can see why other reviewers have compared The Unadoptables to Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet. It's whimsical, charming, and fun. The narrative is perched in the perspective of Milou, the leader and escape artist of the group. This is going to be a story of 'found family' and daring adventure. 

There were times when I wondered if my enjoyment of the book really rested on its own shoulders. Maybe because I'd seen the comparisons before I went in, I noticed them more readily. How often the phrasing or plot seems familiar (to the point of taking you out of the story a little bit), and how predictable certain narrative points were. I really enjoy Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchet, and Lemony Snicket. So is that why I enjoy this book so much? Possibly. Is that a problem? Not really. Hana Tooke has taken the elements I enjoyed as a child and reimagined them for an audience of 2020. And that's just fine with me.

I'm sold. It was fun, and lively. Tooke's Amsterdam feels like the real thing, although I've never been so I don't know how helpful that is to you.

5 star read! Amazing writing. I was absolutely compelled by this book, starting by that stunning cover,of course.
I loved having 5 diverse main characters. I'm so pleased as someone with a disability myself to see a rocking main character giving visibility about how capable of adventure everyone is, despite everything life can throw at you.
Also, I've been obsessed with visiting Amsterdam for so long and having this novel happening in 19th century Amsterdam was such a delight.
Hooked by Hanna Hooke's writing and eagerly waiting to see her succeed and to read more by her soon.

My Dutch heart warmed while reading this book. I loved each and every one of the characters so much and reading it really just made me smile and made me happy. I honestly love this book.

Oh my heart! 💔 I'm not sure I have the words for this beautiful, gut-wrenching but gripping tale, exquisitely told by Hana Took. It is a future classic - a tale of hope, sorrow and joy that will evoke flowing tears, a fierce attachment to characters that you just want to bring home and a roiling hatred for villains so vile, you'll want to finish them off yourself.

Welcome to 'Little Tulips' - the bleakest orphanage in the city of Amsterdam- where in 1880, five babies were abandoned in the most unusual manner. Here starts the journey of Milou, Sem, Egg, Lotta and Fenna - the 'unadoptables' unable to find a home.

When cruel matron, Gassbeck, decides to sell the orphans off to sinister sailor, Rotman, the five inseparables have no choice but to run for their lives, to the outskirts of the city where Milou believes her real family awaits her. Following the clues from her past, she leads them to an abandoned windmill where a puppet-maker once lived. Convinced that the windmill holds the key to her identity, Milou convinces the others to stay and forge a home. But, curious eyes are watching, Rotman is lurking and the Kinderbureau are smelling a rat. Will Milou ever uncover who her true family are and find her happy end?

Although predominantly Milou's story, this book would be nothing without the unity of five adorables who you will want to adopt by the end of chapter one. Bursting with heart and soul, this book weaves a tale of gothic intrigue - puppets, nightmares and clock-makers- with the cruel reality of life as destitute orphans. Milou's flawed but desperate tenacity will gouge claw-marks into your heart and the orphans' unbreakable bond is beyond endearing. Gassbeck and Rotman are villains to rival Cruella de Vil and Fagin and the role of the puppets is truly captivating.

Not all the adults are rotters, however. Edda the curious clock-maker, although somewhat unfathomable, brings a sense of stability and safety to the story and plays a key role in the ending. As far as endings go, this one will not disappoint. It keeps you guessing until the end and is one of the most satisfying and moving conclusions that I have read.

For me, this novel, although fresh and original, had echoes of 'The Sound of Music', 'Oliver Twist' and 'A Little Princess.' The storytelling felt traditional, the setting was gritty and the plot intoxicating. It is a love story, a gothic nightmare and a tale of friendship, the tendrils of which will entwine around every heartstring you own and stay there.

OH MY GOUDA. This book, guys. I’ve already gushed about in on twitter, so sorry if you’ve already seen this before, but I need to talk about this book. THE UNADOPTABLES tells the story of five orphans in 19th century Amsterdam who are thrown into an adventure when they are forced to escape their orphanage one night. I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, and fell in love with it, so reading a novel set there was just fantastic. Hana captures the feel and essence of this magical city with ease, transporting the reader not only geographically but also back time. The world-building was complex and multi-layered, and partly because of this I sunk completely into the story.

This neatly moves us on to the next point of my gush-fest: the plot. It was compelling and twisty-turny and pace-y and unputdownable. Basically, it was a fantastic story. ALSO, there was a fortune teller. On to our main characters: we have five of them, which was daunting (I have a hard time keeping up when there are lots of characters). However, each of the unadaptable orphans were so different from each other, and they were complex and 3D people, so it was very easy to keep track of who was speaking and to whom. I also adored the diversity of the MC’s–we have a person of colour, a disabled character, and a character with selective mutism.

FINALLY, Hana’s writing was exquisite. This was one of those stories where certain sentences and turns of phrase made me OOH and AHH with appreciation (and a little bit of writerly jealously). This has been one of my favourite reads of 2020 so far; it is most definitely a classic in the making, and you need to read it when it comes out in July. I have pre-ordered, and I will definitely be re-reading it in the near future.

Five children left on the steps of the Little Tulip Orphanage in Amsterdam for adoption. Unfortunately, whoever left them did not follow the rules. So these children from the word go were destined to be different. All are great characters in different ways. It’s when they are overlooked yet again when a couple come to view the children that the mean matron, Elinora Gassbeek, decides to sell them to an unscrupulous captain of a ship for labour, and the children unite and escape. Of course, they don’t do this in a straightforward way, but the reader is routing for them as tension mounts and the adventure unfolds.
Milou, who is determined that it was simply an accident she was left behind and her parents would be back to collect her, devises a plan to attract her parents to rescue her and her friends. Plot twists, drama, evil villains, puppets and unlikely allies make this a wonderful story of family and friendship, of great adventure, courage and self-belief.

Tooke has created a wonderful story with a surprise around every corner. As witty and imaginative as the work of Geraldine McCaughrean, Hana Tooke has made the reader go on a whirlwind ride through nineteenth century Amsterdam with 5 "unadoptable" orphans.
The story is set in nineteenth century Holland, and from the outset we are introduced to a bunch of characters who have had to fend for themselves in their orphanage. The orphanage, which, makes the orphanage in the film "Annie" look like a palace. The five children quickly manage to escape the orphanage, and since the orphan Milou is determined to find out where she came from this leads the children into a whole host of unpredictable adventures. Tooke utilises the skills of each of the characters to create a believable but somewhat unexpected set of plot twists.
The book is beautifully illustrated with images at the start of each chapter that help draw the reader into the suspense of what is about to happen.
Both children and adults will be captivated by the adventures that these children undertake and the book definitely leaves the reader wanting more.
I am thankfully to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children's for allowing me to read and review this book.

Five abandoned babies all arrive within a year at the Little Tulip Orphanage in Amsterdam, none of them in accordance with the three rules laid down by Matron Elinora Gassbeek. After twelve years, not one has been adopted, but when a merchant arrives and says he will take all five of them, they decide to take their destiny into their own hands and flee, following the only clues they have to find the family that Milou is convinced will awaiting her return.
The Unadoptables is a tale of mystery, adventure and not a little menace, with five individual and unforgettable characters propelling the action. The twists and turns of the plot continue until the very end, with a hugely satisfying dénouement which draws together all the little hints the reader has picked up alongside Milou and her friends.
I was gripped from the very first sentence and could not put this book down. It is one of the best books for children I have read in recent years, with its theme of loyalty, friendship and self-acceptance providing the warmth at the heart of the novel. I am a huge fan of novels that stand alone, but I find myself hoping that Hana Tooke will give her characters a sequel! Unreservedly recommended.

I had been really looking forward to this and was so pleased to get a copy ro review. It didn't disappoint. This is a fantastic story, filled with adventure, friendship, kindness and great humour. I loved the characters, especially the relationship between the five children and cannot wait to share it with the children I work with. Definitely one to pre-order!

I thoroughly enjoyed this heartwarming, yet at times disturbing, tale of 5 unique orphans who use their initiative and unusual skills to escape the evil Gassbeak (the matron of the orphanage) as well as the despicable Rotman - a sailor who wants to buy the orphans to work them to death. Set in 19th Century Amsterdam, the leader of the group of orphans is Milou an orphan who believes her arrival at the orphanage is temporary and is waiting for her family to return for her but when faced with the reality of herself and her ‘orphanage family’ being sold to Rotman, the orphans fake their own adoptions, escape to the windmill Milou believes belongs to her family and they even create a puppet father (to keep adults away). The endearing characters of the orphans, as well as the intrigue, action and vile villains had me willing the children on to succeed and find happiness. I will definitely be recommending this book within school.

This book is honestly fantastic. 100% can recommend this. If you don't want to read my review, just go and preorder now. You will not be disappointed.

We follow a group of 5 'Unadoptable' orphans, focusing mainly on Milou but her friends Sem, Lotta, Egg and Fenna are all equally intriguing characters with a lot of back story. We are trying to help Milou find her parents based on all the clues she was abandoned with as a baby.

There is so much to decipher from this book as the plot progresses. I can't think of any negative critiques to make. I just love this story so much. The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter were beautiful and really helped to build the story in my mind.

The phrase 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb' comes to mind with this book. All of these children are strong and incredible in their own way. They have their own talents and I get a big Umbrella Academy vibe from them. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a Netflix series in the future.

I want a sequel. I hope there is one. I want Thibault to come back and use his Bear Grylls skills to help Egg find his parents. I want to know more about how Edda is going to raise these children. I want to watch these characters grow up and find closure and live the happy lives they deserve.

This book is wholesome and perfect in every way. I cannot wait for it to be released and buy a print copy for myself. This is suitable for children and adults. I definitely love it and I'm 100% sure you will too.