Wildwood

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www.wildwoodchronicles.com

Wildwood
Colin Meloy
Carson Ellis
2011

The Summary

For twelve-year-old Prue McKeelm, the Impassable Wilderness - marked IW on every map she has viewed since she was a child - is a distant region of myth and legend and fairy tale, until, one day, her baby brother Mac is abducted by a murder of crows and dropped into the heart of the wildest parts of the woods.

Leaving the city of Portland and her parents behind, Prue and her unexpected ally, Curtis Mehlberg, enter Wildwood in search of baby Mac and become entangled in the wildest adventure of their lives.

The Good

Although Wildwood is written for a younger audience of readers, it possesses a depth and breadth of detail and beauty that it can appeal to both the young and the old and everyone who falls in between.

Full of detail, beautiful descriptions, wonderfully paced, and suitable complexity, Meloy and Ellis's novel is an unexpected gem.  The characters, more importantly, are absolutely delightful.  Genuine and flawed, they are easy to understand - easy to relate to - and fantastic to read about.  Their stories make the book a real and lasting treasure.

Personally, I also love the growth many of the characters undergo.  In particular, you can visibly chronicle the changes which Prue and Curtis experience as they travel through the realms of Wildwood, as they make new friends who help influence and shape them, and as they encounter newer and more ferocious dangers.

All in all, it is a phenomenal book.

The Bad

Although suitable for children, Wildwood does possess some violence and a small amount of strong language.  Otherwise, it's a safe bet you'll enjoy this book from cover to cover.

The Ugly

True evil does indeed appear to exist - and you get to witness it first hand.

The Monsters of Templeton

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www.laurengroff.com

The Monsters of Templeton
Lauren Groff

2008

The Summary

For Willie Upton, her life has taken a difficult turn.  Besides a disastrous affair with her archaeology professor, a potential unplanned pregnancy, and a very ill best friend, Willie has also learned that her father isn't who she imagined - in fact, he may just be a man from her hometown of Templeton, a man she has known for her entire life.

Digging deep into the rather sordid lineage of the Upton family, Willie searches for the truth about her parentage - and encounters secrets she never imagined.  All with the back drop of a most amazing occurrence:  the discovery of a prehistoric lake monster in the local lake of Glimmerglass.

The Good

Fascinating, detailed, and intriguing, The Monsters of Templeton explores the dynamics of human thought and confronts the mystique - and myth - of one early American family, dispelling the illusions of greatness and grandeur.  It's an interesting study into the wild stories (and people) who make up a single family line, and one woman's search to uncover some very sordid, very scandalous truths about one of the town's most prominent citizens:  its very own founder.

Although the lake monster of Lake Glimmerglass takes a back seat to the events of Willie Upton's life and her research on the Upton family line, it's certainly one of the more intriguing aspects of Lauren Groff's novel.  Not only the idea is interesting, but Groff manages to interweave the life - and death - of the lake monster into the elements of Willie's life and research.

It's definitely a page turner, and it's sure to enchant.

The Bad

Groff's novel is well-written and enchanting.  Perhaps the only complaint a reader might have is that the chapters, sometimes alternating between the private correspondences and diaries of Willie's ancestors, seem to pass all too quickly.

The Ugly

Adultery, illegitimate children, murder, suicide, gore, among other elements, rise to the surface over the course of Willie's research, turning her family tree into one long, rather grim, trail of scandal and potentisl ruin.

Honestly, the lake monster of Glimmerglass is probably the nicest creature imaginable in Groff's intriguing and unusual novel.