Review: "An Appealing Mythical Story For Young Readers"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
This is an interesting adolescent/young adult story about a mystical forest area called Whispering Pines.  The forest is only inhabited by the creatures as humans fear evil spirits dwell deep in the forest.  Ivan is the Guardian of Whispering Pines.  He's an owl who protects all the creatures by looking into the future and changing events which can bring danger into the forest.  Once upon a time there was evil in the forest.  Cypress was an evil black crow, and when he died, all dwellers hoped evil would no longer exist.  But The Guardian is aware of Cypress's son, Boldwyn, who will one day return to the forest to avenge his father's death.  While Ivan perches in tall trees to keep watch over the forest from high above, Valor the fox is his ground support.  Soon, Boldwyn makes his appearance to Ivan and eventually they meet where Boldwyn makes his wishes known:  he wants the mysterious gem that once was in his father's possession returned to him.  If he does not obtain the gem, he will attack Whispering Pines.  Ivan feels that all the creatures need to be trained in warfare to protect their forest.  Will they be able to overthrow Boldwyn? This is a very interesting story written simply for young readers' enjoyment. I think this story would be more enjoyable for youngsters if  the different forest animals were illustrated at the beginning of each chapter.