Dreamwood
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