Plain Kate
#7313.76 adjusted 3.79 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2010 Reading commitment Low Erin Bow Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Overview
Erin Bow's 2010 debut, winner of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, is a Russian-flavoured fantasy of a woodcarver's orphaned daughter whose carved charms are fine enough to earn her the name 'witch-blade' in a town that burns witches. When crops fail and her neighbours look for someone to blame, a stranger named Linay buys her shadow in exchange for the means to escape and the granting of her heart's wish, and Kate flees with the wandering Roamers and her talking cat Taggle, only to learn that no one can live shadowless for long.
Dark fantasy, Historical fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Plain Kate (2010) core · 3.76 (6,188 ratings); Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), September 2010. Russian-flavoured historical fantasy; the author's debut novel.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Plain Kate? Plain Kate's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Plain Kate finished? Complete (2010).
- How much reading does Plain Kate take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~311 pages).
- How is Plain Kate ranked? #731 in this site's official ranking, based on 6,188 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #731?
Ranked #731 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.76 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (6,188 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #730, The Windsingers (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 6k ratings · Ranks #731 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, 2011: won: Plain Kate
- Sunburst Award (Young Adult), 2011: nominated: Plain Kate; Shortlisted.
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Suggestions computed from what Plain Kate and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Krabat Mythic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.91
- The Lie Tree Historical fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.84
- Gallant Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.70
- Sea Hearts Fairy-tale retelling / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.69
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.76 across 6,188 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Plain Kate (Erin Bow) accepted 2026-09-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia Tier 2
- Scholastic Canada (publisher) Tier 1
Last reviewed: 2026-09-29
Rule: Core Canon = Plain Kate (2010) only, standalone.