FOREST SECRETS - Laurie Woodward


 Daisy Castillo is a preteen girl embarking on a new (unwanted) adventure.  Her parents are divorcing and she's moving with her mom to a new home. There's an ancient forest near the new home and Daisy retreats to the woods and there she meets and befriends Calliandra, a magical half-tree/half-human creature. Calliandra is upset because her parents are missing somewhere in the forest.

There is an evil force looking to destroy the ancient forest and Daisy knows she has to do everything in her power to stop the destruction of the woods.  She meets a local boy, Albert Mahoney, just a couple years older than Daisy but he already knows too much about being lost and lonely. He joins up with Daisy and Calliandra in the fight to stop the destruction of the woods.

But all the threats to the woods aren't from mystical sources ... the three discover that there's a local logging company that is illegally cutting down the forest. This is something Daisy can possibly address directly.

In general, this was a delightful middle-grade reader fantasy.  It's got appropriate childhood drama (divorcing parents), some unique fantasy creatures (the tree-beings), a high-drama goal (save the woods!), and unlikely friendships. I can see where this might appeal to a very specific group of young readers (much as I would have been at this age).

There are moments when the writing is a bit too 'simple' - even for middle grade readers ("His head darted to and fro like a cartoon audience in watching a sped-up tennis match") - the kind of thing that reminds the adult reader that we're reading a self-published book, and not one that's had a strong editorial hand.

Still, I generally thought that this would be a worth addition to a school library.

Looking for a good book? Forest Secrets by Laurie Woodward is a middle-grade fantasy firmly rooted on Earth but with some unique characters that help make this a fun and educational read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Forest Secrets

author: Laurie Woodward

publisher: Create Space

ISBN: 9780692510995

paperback, 150 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more