Eleven-year-old Casey is stubbornly friendly, but he's eternally the new kid at Vintage Woods Middle School. Students look right through him—and they're not faking. Casey doesn't know why he's mostly-invisible, but when he scales a colossal oak, he discovers a fortress in its branches. The forgotten sentry tree marks the border between his safe, suburban life and a fierce frontier.
Casey and his little sister Gloria infiltrate Sylvan Woods, a secret forest society devoted to ancient, wild things. Sky-high footpaths. Survival sewing. Monster control. Shockingly, people here actually see Casey—but being seen isn't enough. He wants to belong.
Keeping his identity
hidden--while struggling to prove he fits--is hard enough, but Butcher Beasts
have returned to Sylvan Woods after a hundred years. Trickery is under siege.
As the monsters close in, and the fearsome Sylvan Watch hunts Casey down, he
and his newfound friends must unearth abandoned magic, buried at the forest's
roots...or be devoured along with everyone else, Sylvans and civilians alike.
Casey Grimes is 11, friendly, and polite. But as the new kid at Vintage Woods Middle School he has a problem. No one seems to see him unless he does something outrageous to get noticed, but then it’s only fleeting. People go back to not seeing him. It’s like he’s invisible or something. The only time he feels any joy is when he’s climbing trees. He has an almost unnatural knack for it. When summer break starts, he finds a huge oak tree to climb and when he finally reaches the top he discovers something interesting. There’s a whole other world out there and they’re called Sylvans. After meeting Luciana West he and his little sister Gloria decide to follow her when she returns to Sylvan Woods and see what they can find out. That’s when their adventure truly begins.
This is an engaging and charming Middle Grade Fantasy story. Kind of icky at times and there’s danger, too, but not so much you’d want to keep it from the youngsters. It skips along at a pretty good clip and I had to remind myself to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow. I love the characters and the world and while I find it kinda wonky that all the parents have just left the kids at school and gone off to battle, at least there are some adults (teachers) around to keep an eye on them. But maybe not enough of them because these kids get up to some shenanigans. LOL In any case, I quite enjoyed my time with Casey, Gloria, and the others and look forward to learning more about this new and fascinating world.
AJ Vanderhorst has had
many jobs, including journalist, paramedic, escape artist, and baby whisperer.
One time in fifth grade, he built a traffic-stopping fort in a huge oak tree,
using only branches and imagination, and slept there for a week.Now he and his wife live in a woodsy house with their proteges and a ridiculous number of pets, including a turtle with a taste for human toes. This makes AJ an expert on wild, dangerous things—invisibility spells, butcher beasts, hungry kids, you get the idea.
He is the only author in the world who enjoys pickup basketball and enormous bonfires, preferably not at the same time. He and his family have drawn up several blueprints for their future tree castle.
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Great review!
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