Dreamwood

by Heather Mackey Narrated by Jennifer Grace

Overview

Lucy Darrington has no choice but to run away from boarding school. Her father, an expert on the supernatural, has been away for "too" long while doing research in Saarthe, a remote territory in the Pacific Northwest populated by towering redwoods, timber barons, and the Lupine people. But upon arriving, she learns her father is missing: Rumor has it he's gone in search of dreamwood, a rare tree with magical properties that just might hold the cure for the blight that's ravaging the forests of Saarthe. Determined to find her father (and possibly save Saarthe), Lucy and her vexingly stubborn friend Pete follow William Darrington's trail to the deadly woods on Devil's Thumb. As they encounter Lupine princesses, giant sea serpents, and all manner of terrifying creatures, Lucy hasn't reckoned that the dreamwood itself might be the greatest threat of all.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Wildly inventive. Like this novel, Lucy is brave, smart, and destined for greatness."—Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting By 7s

“An original fantasy for middle-grade readers plaits together science, the supernatural and deep ecology . . . The carefully plotted twists and turns will keep readers absorbed to the end. A stunning debut with equal parts originality and heart.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

School Library Journal

06/01/2014
Gr 5–8—Lucy Darrington's adventures begin on a train as she flees a starched ladies finishing school to join her ghost-chasing father on the west coast of the vaguely Victorian, slightly steampunk American States. When Lucy arrives in the town of Saarthe, her father has disappeared and the community faces a terrible tree blight called Rust, which threatens the timber industry and everyone's livelihood. Lucy and her landlord's son, Peter, set out to find her father and Dreamwood, a legendary cure for Rust in a mystical region called Devil's Thumb. They face the menacing tests and traps of the carnivorous tree spirit His-sey-ak. The villain does not easily suffer greedy mortals to cross its land, and their death-defying expedition requires the combination of Lucy's research and steampunk gadgets with Peter's common sense. Mackey combines fantasy, ecology, and adventure in her debut novel, all to good effect. Vivid desciptions (such as a tree that digests blood and sea serpents that can be harnessed to speed a boat ride) capture the imagination at every turn. Dialogue and perilous situations nudge the story along at a steady clip, with the second half a breathless page turner. Dreamwood will please character-focused readers. Hand this to children who want an environmental adventure like Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea (Dutton, 2002) or a character-grounded speculation like Kenneth Oppel's Airborn (HarperCollins, 2004).—Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2014-03-17
An original fantasy for middle-grade readers plaits together science, the supernatural and deep ecology. Lucy Darrington, 12 1/2, is a spunky girl who has escaped the stultifying atmosphere of a San Francisco finishing school to reunite with her beloved father, a scientist whose livelihood as a ghost clearer has diminished with the spreading, turn-of-the-20th-century popularity of electricity. Lucy arrives at the fictional city of Pentland—in an alternate Pacific Northwest where American settlements are embedded within lands still owned by indigenous peoples—only to find her father gone from his rooming house. Is his disappearance related to Rust, which is killing off kodok trees, source of income for many settlers and First Peoples? How does mythical, elusive dreamwood fit into the picture? Determined to find her father, Lucy embarks on a series of adventures, most of which include Pete Knightly, a slightly older boy whose parents were housing Lucy's father. The latter part of the book takes them deep into the Devil's Thumb peninsula, where gripping, even terrifying, moments are seasoned with humor and a slowly blossoming friendship. The carefully plotted twists and turns will keep readers absorbed to the end. A stunning debut with equal parts originality and heart. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170083060
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/12/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

“In any of your stories is there an uncanny place?” Lucy asked. “Graveyards where people see ghosts, hollows where people hear voices even when no one’s around?”“Oh ho.” Anya chuckled. “Stories like that are a penny a pound in Saarthe. But the stories your father most wanted to hear were about the Thumb.”Lucy frowned at this. “What’s that?”Anya pressed her floury hand onto the table. “This here’s Saarthe.” She pointed to her palm and fingers. “And this is Devil’s Thumb.”The cook’s broad brown knuckle jutted out into the snowy white flour.“Why is it the Devil’s?”Anya wiped her hands. Her eyes held Lucy’s. “Because it’s cursed.”

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Dreamwood"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Heather Mackey.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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