Tale of the Flying Forest

Gr 3-5–After her mother dies, 11-year-old Anne Applebaum spends her childhood daydreaming in her favorite book The World to Come, a collection of fairy tales about a fictional flying forest called Bei Ilai. But what if it wasn’t pretend? What if the seven witches and the Prophetesses, and even her twin that her mother used to dream of were all real? Following her encounter with a talking raven, Anne sets off to discover the real Bei Ilai and when she comes face-to-face with her brother Rainer, she knows she has to save him despite the evil they will have to fight to keep all the worlds safe. This story is based on traditional Jewish stories and seamlessly integrates quotes from the Torah and prayers throughout the text. It also references many traditional German fairy tales and includes lines from well-known classics, making it fun for readers to guess the reference. The main arc of Anne rescuing Rainer and saving the Flying Forest is interspersed with created tales from old Bei Ilai. That, in conjunction with the narrator breaking the fourth wall, makes the novel read like a fairy tale itself. The dialogue occasionally feels stilted and, without enough worldbuilding and character development, it’s not an immersive reading experience. Most characters are cued as white, which is reflected in the detailed illustrations throughout the text.