Marina Salles is dead at sixteen. But her life doesn't end. Instead, she transforms into an aswang, a shape-shifting creature that exists in Filipino folklore. With this new-found power, Marina can access people's memories, the women that came before her and even her killer's, and infuse new meanings into their pasts. While Marina seeks vengeance for her unjust death as an aswang, she retraces the steps of her life that lead to her final moment.

A Tiny Upward Shove is hands down the saddest, most disturbing, and at times unbearable book I've read. It is also a remarkable debut that sheds light on important issues we tend to overlook — missing girls and women. A Tiny Upward Shove is an intense examination of how adults fail children. We often talk about how it takes a village to raise a child. Similarly, it takes multiple failures for a kid to fall through the cracks, abusive parents, neglectful adults, and the underfunded foster care system.

Chadburn leverages her extensive investigation and reporting on the child welfare system and the true story of Canadian serial killer Willie Pickton to highlight the abuse and neglect children face. Its discussions of children forced to take on responsibilities due to the failures of adults remind me of Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley. A Tiny Upward Shove can be a very triggering read, and I'd advise those interested to check out the TW tags first.

Even if you decide not to read A Tiny Upward Shove, I want to highlight Chadburn's message in the author's notes. "According to the National Crime Information Center, to date, more than 5,800* Indigenous womxn, girls, and two-spirit persons throughout the United States and Canada have been reported as missing or murdered. This novel asks that we recognize those who have died, those who are still missing, those who have survived, and their beloved grievers".

To all the missing children, girls, and women, this book is for you.