Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows. And then things get really weird.
You see, on every map of Portland, Oregon, there is a big splotch of green on the edge of the city labeled “I.W.” This stands for “Impassable Wilderness.” No one’s ever gone in—or at least returned to tell of it.
And this is where the crows take her brother.
So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much bigger as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness.
A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.
Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger, and magic that juxtaposes the thrill of a secret world and modern city life. Original and fresh yet steeped in classic fantasy, this is a novel that could have only come from the imagination of Colin Meloy, celebrated for his inventive and fantastic storytelling as the lead singer of the Decemberists. With dozens of intricate and beautiful illustrations by award-winning artist Carson Ellis, Wildwood is truly a new classic for the twenty-first century.
You see, on every map of Portland, Oregon, there is a big splotch of green on the edge of the city labeled “I.W.” This stands for “Impassable Wilderness.” No one’s ever gone in—or at least returned to tell of it.
And this is where the crows take her brother.
So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much bigger as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness.
A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.
Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger, and magic that juxtaposes the thrill of a secret world and modern city life. Original and fresh yet steeped in classic fantasy, this is a novel that could have only come from the imagination of Colin Meloy, celebrated for his inventive and fantastic storytelling as the lead singer of the Decemberists. With dozens of intricate and beautiful illustrations by award-winning artist Carson Ellis, Wildwood is truly a new classic for the twenty-first century.
April says:
"I have to begin with this: This book is wordy. Wordy. Wordy. It's long. Five hundred sixty pages long, to be annoyingly exact. I'm sure, when it's printed, it could break a young reader's hands as theyfight to hold it up; and all powers forbid they fall asleep with it! It might smother them!
But even with the colossal word count, Wildwood is a great book. It is devour-able. Meloy's language conjures every facet in each image he lays before the reader down to the curls in a bandit's smelly mane. And Ellis' illustrations are a delightful addition to the narrative that by no means take the task away from one's imagination.
Prue McKeel has to be one of the strongest eleven year olds I've met since I turned twelve. She's independent and headstrong and really the best big sister any little sibling could ask for. Prue proves this when she heads into the Impassable Wilderness after a murder of crows steals her little brother, a toddler called Mac who has a penchant for screaming out "POO!". The Impassable Wilderness (I.W.) is that old creepy wood just outside of town (town = Portland, OR) that no one has succeeded in taming (read building up), so it just looms there, laughing in the face of commercial expansion. There are rumors, legends, and scary stories about poor folk throughout the years who have wandered into the I.W. and the few who have wandered back.
But when Prue wanders in accompanied by Curtis (a boy who is not so much a friend of Prue's as a boy who has a crush on her), she finds the I.W. is actually Wildwood--a progressive little place with coyote armies, an Avian Principality, mail routes, and bandits. The two heroes (Prue and now Curtis) are quickly separated and forced into action on two fronts of a magical cold war that has been brewing for fifteen years and is now ready to bubble out of the pot.
Despite its length, Wildwood is full of action; and the ability to flip between the points of view of Prue and Curtis keeps the story fresh and snappy. I truly believe this is a great bedtime (or in general) read aloud book for the whole family. There are plenty of opportunities for great character voices and the sections/chapters tend to be short enough that stopping mid-action isn't likely to happen.
And now you have a wordy review for an equally wordy book."
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