Soonchild is a fantasy novel for young adults written by Russell Hoban, first published by Walker in March 2012 with illustrations by Alexis Deacon.

"[3] Walker's North American division Candlewick Press published an edition released 14 August 2012, retaining the Deacon illustrations.

[1][4] Soonchild tells the story of a shaman known as Sixteen-Face John, who lives in a cold, snowy region referred to as "The North," and who fears he's losing his way in the modern world.

Writing in The Guardian, Tony Bradman praised the story's "timeless quality," and added: "Ignore the references to Coke and magazines, and you could be reading an Inuit legend, shot full of wryness and wit and with deep insight into human nature ... Alexis Deacon's moody pencil illustrations add a haunting counterpoint to the magical realism of the story, and have their own moments of wit.

"[5] In The Daily Telegraph, Tim Martin called it "a work aimed even more squarely at the great imponderables than many of Hoban's recent adult novels," admiring "Hoban's sprightly narration and a cast of supernatural potentates who swap banter about the yawning vastnesses of the human soul with the wry pragmatism of a team of garage mechanics.