The Story Web

by Megan Frazer Blakemore

Overview

"Will enchant your imagination." -Erin Entrada Kelly, Newbery Medal-Winning author

In this moving and magical instant classic, Megan Frazer Blakemore shows how the truths we tell can change the world.

When Alice was little, she found a gigantic spider web deep in the forest. Her dad called it the Story Web and told her that its strands are woven from the stories that connect us all.

Years later, Alice's dad has gone away and Alice is sure that it's her fault. Now she won't even talk about him, and she definitely doesn't believe his farfetched stories anymore. But when animals in town start acting strangely, she can't ignore them. The Story Web is in danger--and the very fabric of our world is breaking. The only way to mend it is to tell honest tales from the heart, even if they are difficult to share.

Pick up The Story Web if you are looking for:
- Stories about storytelling
- Heartfelt, magical tales
- Fun animal characters
- Honest conversations about mental health

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681195261
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Megan Frazer Blakemore is the author of The Daybreak Bond, The Firefly Code, The Friendship Riddle, The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill, and The Water Castle, which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and a New York Public Library Best Book for Reading and Sharing. She is also the author of the young adult novels Good and Gone and Very in Pieces, as well as the upcoming Frankie Sparks: 3rd Grade Inventor chapter book series. A school librarian, Megan lives in Maine with her family.
www.meganfrazerblakemore.com
Megan Frazer Blakemore is the author of The Firefly Code, The Friendship Riddle, The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill, and The Water Castle, which was listed as a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and as a New York Public Library Best Book for Reading and Sharing. She is also the author of the young adult novel Secrets of Truth And Beauty which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was on the ALA Rainbow list. A former middle-school librarian, Megan lives in Maine with her family.
www.meganfrazerblakemore.com

Editorial Reviews

You will be swept away. Alice will steal your heart. The story will enchant your imagination.” —Erin Entrada Kelly, Newbery Medal-Winning author

“The story's essential theme-the importance of trust and connection in the health of a community-is an important one in this divisive time.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The importance of sharing one's stories is a theme that will resonate with many . . . Recommended for collections where magical realism is popular and stories about PTSD are needed.” —School Library Journal

“A realistic and honest consideration of the impact of mental illness on families and communities commingles effectively with the fantastical elements in this captivating tale.” —Horn Book Magazine

“Hopeful. . . . Readers get a lesson in the importance of honesty versus allowing rumors to spread.” —Booklist

“An accessible rumination on the power of storytelling and its place in the modern world.” —BCCB

“Readers with a passion for environmentalism and economic equality will be enthralled by this title that explores the impact of a world whose unrestrained consumption has harsh effects on others.” —School Library Journal on THE DAYBREAK BOND

“The themes are strong, and the depiction of a tightly controlled world at the expense of individuality will surely fascinate fans of Lois Lowry's The Giver.” —School Library Journal on THE FIREFLY CODE

“Will have children turning pages and thinking about important questions. An excellent choice for those who love Lois Lowry's The Giver or Margaret Peterson Haddix's sci-fi adventures.” —Booklist on THE FIREFLY CODE

“It is no mystery that readers will come to love Hazel Kaplansky.” —Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor-winning author of HATTIE BIG SKY, on THE SPY CATCHERS OF MAPLE HILL

“Thought provoking . . . a tribute to the great girl detectives of children's literature.” —New York Times Book Review on THE SPY CATCHERS OF MAPLE HILL

“Science, history and literature references glow . . . With keen intelligence and bits of humor, the prose slips calmly between narrative perspectives, trusting readers to pick up a revelation that Ephraim and Mallory don't see—and it's a doozy. This one is special.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on THE WATER CASTLE

“What shines through . . . is Blakemore's tender understanding of how these children—and all children—feel about their lives and the adults who control them.” —New York Times on THE WATER CASTLE

From the Publisher

04/01/2019

Gr 3–6—Told in multiple perspectives, this story depicts magical realism with real-life consequences. Long ago, animals and humans were connected and able to communicate. Humans shared their stories and spiders wove them into the Story Web, but the stories are no longer shared and the connection has been lost, which has brought about the Freezing. The animal council has gathered and is desperately trying to communicate with Alice, who as a child followed a strand to the Story Web. Yet she no longer believes in the power of stories since her father, who is suffering from PTSD, was hospitalized following a breakdown that Alice blames on herself. Alice, along with classmates Lewis and Melanie, tries to help, but it is not until all three children share their truth and realize how fear and rumors can twist into harmful stories that the Freezing can be stopped. Readers who enjoy quiet, slow-building action will be rewarded with an emotionally satisfying conclusion. The importance of sharing one's stories is a theme that will resonate with many. VERDICT Recommended for collections where magical realism is popular and stories about PTSD are needed.—Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL

School Library Journal

2019-03-12
Fifth-grader Alice Dingwell believes it is her fault her father has gone away, and she struggles to find her footing in her changed life.

When Alice was a young child, she followed a silken strand of thread to a giant web in the forest. Her father, Buzz, a hockey hero in their depressed Maine mill town, told her it was a Story Web, an essential part of the Earth's well-being. Now, five years later, Alice's father has checked himself into a psychiatric hospital after serving in Afghanistan, and Alice's only connection with him is through his letters, which wander in and out of reality. Alice's guilt over her perceived role in her father's unraveling propels her to shrink from life, keeping others at a distance and quitting the hockey team. But when forest animals begin showing up in town and seem to specifically seek Alice out, she wonders if the Story Web is in danger and, reluctantly at first, begins to seek answers. Blakemore's ambitious tale, like her fine and original web premise, is filled with many adjunct threads. Most weave together strongly, but some feel underdeveloped. That said, the story's essential theme—the importance of trust and connection in the health of a community—is an important one in this divisive time. Alice is white, and the rest of the community seems to be white as well.

An ambitious and mostly successful tale about stories and their essential role in creating connection. (Fantasy. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews