Annie, the main character of the novel, has made a wise decision and left the home of her Aunt and Uncle...who are about to sell her off to the unknown. The journey begins as most fable, through a dark wood with large hairy beasts hiding among the trees. This book takes a unique journey and the characters are fantastic. People who seem to be evil, often turn out to be kind as well...and seemingly kind people often have dangerous sides. It is a very good coming of age novel and I'll be recommending it to some kids in the library. ( )

Reviewed by Breia "The Brain" Brickey for TeensReadToo.com

DARKWOOD is set in a land called Howland, that has no word for evening because darkness falls so quickly. One minute the sky is light, the next minute it is black.

For Annie, nothing is as scary as what might happen if she stays with her aunt and uncle. One night she escapes only to find herself stuck at a mine where they make the children do all of the dangerous work. After a harrowing time at the mines, she finds herself at the king's palace, where she meets someone from her past.

Coupled with all of Annie's adventures are sightings of kinderstalk, mysterious creatures that prowl the dark forests of Howland.

Reading this story from Annie's point of view made for some lively entertainment. She is definitely a braver soul than I ever was at her age, but that is what makes this a wonderful story. She was afraid but still did what she had to do and did her best to protect those around her.

This was a wonderfully written and descriptive novel in a world where most people expect little children to be seen and not heard. Forced to grow up faster than children should, she is a wonder to behold.

I am giving this story the highest honor that I can think of - I am passing it on to my 11-year-old. ( )

A lot of the fantasy I've read over the last few years seems to all be drawing from the same pool of ideas -- but definitely not this one! This is an incredibly compelling book.

While it's great watching Annie (the main character) learn more about her world and her family, and about her own strengths, as the book develops, one of the things that made this book so amazingly real is that even the minor characters have a lot of depth to them. No one feels like a cardboard prop in this book!

And while it's a dark fantasy in many ways, there's nothing here that feels dark just for the sake of the drama. And compared to a lot of other books I've read recently, I think the author does a wonderful job of balancing the dark side of this world with the strong and loving connections between the characters.

On top of that, the author does an awesome job of creating a world in which all of the intense twists and turns in the story make sense -- and so the twists take you by surprise, but they still fit well within the story's world. As a result, it's an amazing book that just pulled me straight through to the end. I plan on handing this book off to some friends who have disappointed with the fantasy they've read lately -- I think this book will get them excited again. :D ( )

This dark fantasy revolves around Annie, an orphan. There are werewolves that hunt children. The sky is dark and overcast. The setting is the future where man had to start over.

Sisters, Annie and Paige were sisters living with their aunt and uncle. Paige disappeared about a year ago leaving Annie alone. When she overheard her uncle discussing selling her into slavery at a Rindstone mine, she ran away. The story continues with Annie discovering her world. She and her two cats meet a variety of friends along the way. She even meets a Kinderstalk (werewolf).

This book has great potential. The target audience is 10-14 year olds. The characters are well developed and each has a distinct personality. The plot is interesting. I’m reminded of The Wizard of Oz and Grimm’s Fairytales where the stories are more than a bit dark. This is the debut novel of M.E. Breen. I suspect this will be a very successful series. ( )

This one had a slow start for me. The characters are well written and the story really takes off after the first 100 pages, so stick with it as the end is worth it. This would be a great chapter book to read out loud since there is enough tension to keep children interested. It is very much a fairy tale written like Grimm's. ( )

Full review located at http://paganbookreviews.com/2009/07/1...

Breen, M.E. (2009). Darkwood. New York: Bloomsbury Children's Literature.

1599902591

An orphan named Annie (no relation to the musical Annie) lives with her uncle and aunt who are far from wonderful caregivers. Annie misses her dead sister as well as her lost friend, Gregor, who along with many other children in the area has been taken by the beastly and hungry Kinderstalk.

Annie overhears her uncle planning to sell her into service at the Drop, a place that Annie is certain will lead to hear death. Instead, she chooses to run away, an effort that will take her into the woods and on to many dangerous places with her two cats by her side. Within her first hours of running, Annie encounters the kinderstalk as well as a strange scarred man who is looking for her and a child that is "marked." What does this have to do with Annie and her new found ability to see in the dark (and, I would argue, her magic ability to overhear many important conversations at just the right time)? Will she find her way to safety? And will she be able to help other lost children?

This fantasy feels like a fairy tale, incorporating many of the same themes, tensions and relationships often present in such stories. The forest described could easily be the Black Forest incorporated into many of the folktales the Grimm brothers collected. But what is interesting is the fact that the main protagonist and the majority of helpful supporting characters are all female, something the Grimms never really managed.

While the writing is good, I found it easy as a reader to accidentally miss some plot points that could have been emphasized more. Several time I asked myself, "Wait, how'd we get here?" or "What did I miss?" Overall, this story never truly managed to completely capture my attention the way I would have liked it to.

Activities to do with the book:



Darkwood has a decidedly German fairytale vibe to it. It could easily be paired with some of the Grimm's tales for comparison.

In response to reading this book, students could write their own stories, create illustrations of the kinderstalk or their own invented beasts. As they learn more about the kinderstalk, they could create new illustrations to show how their perceptions of the creatures have changed.

Since child labor is presented in the novel, a teacher could take this on as a moment to describe the history of child labor in the U.S., the laws preventing it, and how it continues to be an issue worldwide.



Favorite Quotes:



"The sun sets so quickly in Howland that the people who live there have no word for evening. One minute the sky is blue or cloud gray, the next minute it is black, as though someone has thrown a heavy blanket over the earth" (p. 1).

"After seven centuries, you think the moon is going to show its face for you? Come away from there now and set the table."

Annie Trewitt took a small step back from the window. She had seen pictures of the moon in books, copied from older pictures in older books, copied from the oldest books of all" (p. 1).



"The Drop. They were sending her to the Drop, and she would die there" (p. 8).

"Darling, what do you wish for? The dark is drawing near" (p. 72).

"I have a message for the king, and I'm going to the palace to give it to him" (p. 88).

For more of my reviews, visit sjkessel.blogspot.com.

In 12-year-old Annie’s world, it goes from daylight to pitch-black night in a matter of seconds, and everyone is wary of the kinderstalk, creatures who steal children in the darkness. But when Annie’s uncle tries to sell her to the Dropmen, who need small children to mine ringstone, the event sets Annie off on a journey across the country, where she will meet with the king and try to convince everyone that something sinister is happening in her little corner of the nation. Along the way, Annie will meet a few new friends, find out some astonishing secrets, and learn the truth about herself, her heritage, and her destiny.

If you’re a middle schooler with a penchant for the dark side, you might be able to enjoy this book. Otherwise, you might just think it’s a veritable mess of secrets and plot points.

The novel’s concept admittedly hooked me; I was curious to see what the author would do with a world where day and night were sharply defined. And for the first couple of chapters, I was definitely intrigued: Annie was a resilient protagonist (even if she doesn’t act like a regular 12-year-old at all), and I was just beginning to explore this different world with Annie.

However, then Annie begins her quest, and things just seemed to simultaneously speed up and drag. Things are introduced to us in a blinding flash, popping up and then disappearing before they are ever fully explained. At the same time, nothing seems to happen; Annie doesn’t learn about herself and her past until the very end, which meant that for the rest of the book, she was simply caught up in a lot of confusing and sudden events.

Fans of darker fairy tales (such as the movie The Brothers Grimm) might enjoy DARKWOOD and its animalistic element. The ending does promise more books where Annie’s story and purpose will hopefully be better explained. In the meantime, however, DARKWOOD was difficult for me to get through, which led to a marked lack of enjoyment on my part. ( )

Summary: In Howland, nighttime is a time of absolute darkness that falls in a minute, a time when normal people don't dare go outside, a time when the mysterious wolf-like kinderstalk prowl their forests. Annie, a young girl living with her cruel uncle and ineffectual aunt, never ventures out into the darkness - until she overhears her uncle's plan to sell her into slavery. She escapes from her house, but the world is full of more danger, and Annie must save herself from a treacherous mining operation, the political schemings of the wily king, and the packs of kinderstalk that are encroaching ever closer.

Review: Darkwood is one of those cases where all of the elements that would normally make me like a story are present - plucky heroine in terrible circumstances, help from unexpected allies, dangers where you least expect them, and creepy nightmarish horror menacing from the borders. Unfortunately, although all of these elements were there, they weren't put together in a way that really worked for me. The story jumped from one thing to another so quickly that it was hard to follow, and I felt like story points came out of nowhere, did their bit, and then disappeared again without a satisfactory explanation or resolution. It seemed like there wasn't enough foreshadowing or enough explanation (aft-shadowing?) to bind each of the pieces together into a coherent story thread, and it left me feeling constantly wrong-footed as I tried to figure out how we'd gotten here from where we were not a chapter past. In any individual section, the writing was dark, descriptive, and suspenseful; my problems came when trying to fit the whole thing together. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood/frame of mind to really get into it.

The back of the book says it's recommended for ages 10-14, but I think that may skew a few years too young; it's a little creepy and a little too complex for most 10-year-olds, I think. For older readers, all of the elements of a really good story are there, but it never really gelled into something I could fully lose myself in and just enjoy. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Youngish teens who like werewolf stories will find some interesting parallels here, and may not mind the jumpy storytelling style as much as I did. (Kids and their MTV, I tell you. Now hike up your pants and get off my lawn!) Older readers: there are plenty of cool ideas and great scenes, if you're looking for a dark fantasy adventure and aren't too fussed about some frenetic scene-shifting. ( )