This book has been receiving rave reviews and it is not un-warranted (love my double negatives). What's interesting about this book is that it could be under the banner of "celebrity" writer as it was written by a member of the Decemberists, but I don't think this faults the book, rather than add an interesting layer to the author's background (apparently Colin Meloy plays with the themes and legend in this book in his rock operas often). But anyhoo...its a thick tomb of rich vocabulary, descriptions that place you in the moment and scene, and a creative fantasy world that seems disconnected and connected to our world at the same time. This could be because the setting is in the Impassable Wilderness of Portland, Oregon, a mythical country that mere humans are unable to pass into because of the magical protections surrounding it.
In this world, there are talking animals, evil rulers, bureaucratic red tape, blood sucking ivy and more. As many reviews prior have pointed out, this book is like a new Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz. It feels instantly classic and timeless yet of this moment and not dated. For the summary, Prue loses her baby brother when a murder of crows picks him from the basin of his Red Flyer and takes him into the Impassable Wilderness. She must go in after him but she is followed by Curtis, a boy from her school, who insists on being partners even though he is unaware this means that he will be swept away into a coyote army and eventually made part of a group of bandits. Prue must bring the North and South Woods together to defeat the evil Dowager Governess of Wildwood if she has any hope of getting her brother back before he is sacrificed to the ivy.
My problem with this book was also one of the things that made it great. It doesn't water down its language so that younger kids will have an easier time reading it, which is what makes it rich and wonderful, but also what will make it a hard sell to readers who aren't already strong and voracious consumers of their fantasy fiction. At 540 pages, its may be difficult to inspire a child to continue when even as an adult, I had some difficulty with some words. I mean, who knew that "gorp" was just trail mix. But hopefully, with its wealth of description that added to the action rather than slog it down, they will be pulled into Wildwood.
Also, something should be said for the illustrations. Their quaintness was somehow reminiscent of Quentin Blake to me, not in style, but in that they are very specific to their illustrator and they instill warm feelings in you when you look at them. Now, that being said, as I mentioned before, the descriptions in the writing at times was so specific and wonderful that I almost wish there were no illustrations or that they weren't so innocent looking because sometimes the action was grisly and bloody and menacing and that is where the pictures failed.
Interest level: Grades 3-6 Reading level: listed as Grade 5, but I would say more like 7
Genre: Fantasy
Comparable Titles: Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz
Book Connections: Portland, Oregon, Building Imaginary Cities and Map Making, Green Connections (talking to trees and plants)
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