Under Wildwood

Gr 5–8—In this sequel to Wildwood (HarperCollins, 2011), it becomes clear that Prue's and Curtis's adventures will span numerous volumes. Curtis stops his bandit training to rescue Prue from a black fox Kitsune assassin. Prue then abandons her halfhearted attempts to reassimilate into her family. Her friend, the Elder Mystic of the North Wood, believes unrest in the South Wood provisional government has placed all Wildwood in danger. She asks Prue to reestablish balance in the Forest and sends her some rather cryptic clues as to how to go about it. Prue and the unwilling Curtis end up in Wildwood's caverns where they receive help from the Mole City. Meanwhile, Curtis's sisters see glimpses of Wildwood when a cruel orphanage owner sends them into the Impassable Wilderness to try to unpeel its secrets. Meloy's declarative style combined with vivid imagery makes the descriptive passages jump out at readers. Ellis's illustrations evoke a neo-Currier and Ives style that works well with the forest setting. The numerous plot threads intimate a Dickensian approach to story management. There are almost too many things going on at once, and the book raises more questions than it answers. While not as compact as Trenton Lee Stuart's The Mysterious Benedict Society (Little, Brown, 2007), Meloy's offering is a match for its clever writing, and the numerous types of creatures in the wood will keep readers' attention as will the dramatic tension that fills every corner of this Empire Strikes Back-type sequel.—Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT