Tree Girl
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Rowanna’s stern caretaker, Mellwyn, has warned her again and again not to go near the trees that surround their seaside cottage. But Rowanna is drawn to the forest—especially the HighWillow on its faraway hill. Are the trees really forest ghouls, as Mellwyn says? Or could they possibly hold the secret to Rowanna’s past and the mother she can hardly remember? If only she could get near the High Willow, Rowanna feels certain she would understand. . . .
With its timeless forest setting and charming, whimsical characters, Tree Girl is a perfect introduction to fantasy for young middle-grade readers, from a true master of the genre.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barron's (The Lost Years of Merlin) unevenly paced fantasy centers on nine-year-old Anna, who lives with a crotchety old man in a cottage near the forest. In answer to her repeated inquiries about her past, her guardian, Master Mellwyn, tells her only that he found her as an infant nestled in the roots of a willow tree. He forbids her to go into the woods, warning that evil "ghouls" live there. At the same time, she is repeatedly drawn to the sight of the High Willow, which towers over the other forest trees: "Something about this tree spoke to her aye, called to her." The chapter that chronicles the heroine's softening toward her master and her immediate about-face moves too swiftly for readers to find her abrupt changes of heart credible. The upshot is that Anna befriends a forbidden bear who suddenly transforms into a boy and announces that he is a "tree spirit." As the two bond, readers will likely piece together the lass's identity, rendering anticlimactic the moment when she discovers who her mother is. The story's confusing internal logic (Why does Anna bear a striking resemblance to the Master's late daughter, for instance?) and predictable denouement diminish its effect. Ages 8-12.
