This is a beautiful story about the trauma that could be realistically expected from children who have been allowed to visit fantastical worlds but then expelled by those same worlds. McGuire creates a set of believable emotions for each resident of the Home for Wayward Children that ties together the reason for the worlds' calling them and their responses to losing those worlds. The depth of character and world-building in so short a work is very impressive and deserving of all of the acclaim McGuire has received. She builds a moving story over deep layers of context that give the setting a sense of reality and familiarity.