The Darkest Part of the Forest

In a town called Fairfolk, which lies close to the woods,  mysterious things always happened.

Things get even stranger after someone breaks into a glass coffin that holds a strange, horned boy. For years, townspeople have told stories about this local legend.

Local teens,  Hazel and Ben, have repeated those stories and even created some of their own. Other Fairfolk townspeople may have doubted that he was real--stating he was a statue.

Hazel not only knows the Prince is real but she also wants to be the one that saves him from the curse.

One night Hazel does break the spell that binds him. She can't remember that night, though, because of a bargain she had made with the Folk. 

Wanting music lessons for her brother, she gave the Folk seven years of her life. As a result, Hazel is "losing time." Disappearing in the middle of the night to do errands for them, Hazel has no memories of the events later.

Mysterious, intriguing, and fast-paced, this a wonderful YA read. Even if there are some mature themes, Hazel is a hero most girls can look up to. She save a city, her brother, a prince, and most importantly herself. 

If you like this novel, you may like Holly Black's A Modern Faeries Tale series, which includes Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside.

Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

A barren couple moves to Alaska to have a fresh start.  The wilderness, they believe, will suit them. When they get there, they find conditions harsher than they expected. Instead of growing closer, the wilderness draws them apart, until they fashion a snowman. Instead of a traditional snowman, they make one that looks like a little girl. Mysteriously, a child appears in the woods wearing the mittens and scarf they had placed on their "snow child."

Will this child be exactly what the lonely couple has always wished for or is this girl a product of their exhaustion and cabin fever?


Their only neighbor, Esther, explains how this can happen in remote places like Alaska:

"...this isn't an easy place to get along. The winters are long, and sometimes it starts to get to you. Around here, they call it cabin fever. You get down in the dumps, everything's off kilter and sometimes your mind starts playing tricks on you...You start seeing things that you're afraid of...or things you've always wished for...Maybe it was an animal, or the wind. All sorts of explanations."


Mabel is certain, however, that she saw a child who can run quickly on the snow. The couple finds small boot prints that further convinces them of the child's existence.

Not wanting to get his wife's hopes up, Jack secretly leaves trinkets on a stump. He had baited deer in this way and perhaps he can get the child to reappear.  

Ivey adds just the right touch of mystery when describing this elusive child.

This lyrical novel is beautifully written. Though the child's terms are hard to accept, Mabel and Jack learn to let Faina live her life as she pleases.

Thought-provoking, this novel also is incredibly poignant. The childless couple discover that they have had a child afterall -- the wild sprite, Faina, is their child. In the same moment, though, they realize that they have lost her.

The novel which mirrors and amplifies the Russian fairytale, the Snow Child, ends sorrowfully, yet there is room for joy.

Book Discussion:
The Snow Child raises many questions and lends itself well to book discussions. What is a parent and to what extent must we let a child find his/her own way in the world? Are we controlled by fate or can we turn sorrow into joy as Mabel's sister indicates in her letter?

Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. Review by Chantal Walvoord

For a delightful break from reality, read Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. This coming-of-age fantasy will interest young adults and adults alike. Marillier captures all of the wonder and horror that abounds in the original fey stories, yet she gives her heroines problems that anyone could identify with. Is it better to be safe or to take a risk? Is it better to control or to let go and trust your instincts? In chasing monsters (and seeking revenge) do we become what we chase?

Wildwood Dancing opens with a line that piques the reader’s interest, “I heard it said that girls can’t keep secrets. That’s wrong: we’ve proved it.” Every full moon four sisters, who live in a Transylvanian castle, lock their bedroom door and pretend to fall asleep. Then, they step into a portal that takes them into the Other Kingdom--the fairy realm of Wildwood forest—where they enjoy a night of dancing on the green.

After their father’s health deteriorates, the girls must deal with their ambitious, narrow-minded cousin, Cezar, who takes away their home and family business. The girls’ father, a textiles merchant, has left Jena in charge of the business, yet Cezar seizes it. Cezar also threatens to fell the woods surrounding the castle and promises to destroy the fairy realm that offends his sense of propriety.

Loosely based on Grimm’s “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “The Frog Prince,” Marillier breaks new ground with this young adult novel. More than anything this is a novel about consequences. “Nothing comes without a price,” the old crone tells Jena and her two cousins when they, as children, make the mistake of playing “King of the Lake” in the Dead Wash. The consequences of that forbidden game will have far-reaching effects—altering Cezar, Costi, and Jena’s lives while also binding them together.

Wildwood Dancing is also about impossible love, betrayal, and forgiveness. Fans of the Twilight series may enjoy the “doomed love” plot involving Tatiana and Sorrow. Sorrow is one of the Night People, who finds temporary refuge in Ileana’s glade. In addition to dealing with the supernatural elements from the Other Kingdom--an otherworldly frog, a witch who rides a white fox, the strange Night people--Jena must also deal with the desire to find love, independence, and self-fulfillment in her own world.

Wildwood Dancing won an Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2006) and is a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults (2007).