Reviewed by Dr. Karen Hutchins Pirnot for Readers' Favorite

There's a new guy in town, and he's a musician. Author Colin Meloy has written a wonderful debut novel entitled Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I. The best part of the title is that there is a promise of more to come! Eleven-year-old Prue McKeel is not quite your ordinary pre-teen. She is considered an Outsider in the world of the Impassable Woods outside Portland, Oregon. Prue is forced into her woods adventure when her infant brother is snatched by crows while under her care.

Unbeknown to Prue, her parents made a pact with an evil Queen of the forest; this resulted in the condition in which Prue currently finds herself. She and her buddy, Curtis, become involved in danger, intrigue and situations uncommon to the young when trying to rescue Prue's baby brother who is in the hands of the evil Queen who hopes to use him as a sacrifice. Members of the North Woods, the South Woods and the Wildwood must choose sides in a battle of good and evil, and Prue and Curtis find themselves in the thick of it.

This is a delightful story of an epic journey into imagination and growth which will appeal to children of any age (8-98). It should be on every child's wish list of things to read. The sketches compliment the descriptive phrases of the author and will surely be supplemented by ongoing visual images of the reader. Parents, take the mechanical devices away from your children and hand them this book!