Mock Newbery 2027 discussion

Wildwood was written by Colin Meloy from the folk band The Decemberists and has been compared to The Chronicles of Narnia. Do you think that it is Newbery worthy?

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is rich and vivid, as are the illustrations, which just seem to fit the style of the text. Neat that the illustrator is Meloy's wife. I did find that at times it moved a bit slowly, so I am a bit on the fence about if it is Newbery worthy, but I am eager to read the next in the trilogy.

I did not enjoy this book as I had anticipated I would. Although I am quite a fan of fantasy I just didn't feel caught up in the story. Well written, yes. Clever concept, yes. I just felt something missing in the story line. I wouldn't put it on my Newbery short list.

I finished Wildwood the other day after thoroughly devouring it. The storyline pulled me in from the start and kept me wanting to read more, and I was not disappointed. I also liked the illustrations. One reason is the classic feel and look it gives the book. The other reason is because of the many times that you read a book and get a mental image of what is going on and then an illustration is thrown in there and my thought is "really, did you even read the desciption the author gave." So in the case of Wildwood, the illustrations were spot on. (Due to the husband and wife team.) Although a great book, I also don't think it is Newbery worthy.

FINALLY finished this one. This one did not do it for me. It had a few bright spots but they were dimmed by the length, the overly violent war, and the lackluster characters. It had TOO much description and very little character development.

Better late then never! I finally finished Wildwood today. I have to say, I started out loving this book. I loved the authors vivid description of the fantasy land, found the population of the impassible wilderness to be utterly charming and enjoyable. It hinted in so many ways of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz with it's quirky characters in a nonsensical land. But then I got to the big reveal as to why Mac was spirited away and I felt so disappointed! I wished that had been a prologue instead of placed in the middle of the book and told as a story within a story. I also felt it was unbelievable that Prue's parents just kind of threw up their hands and went, ah well, a promise is a promise after all! Ultimately I felt the book was dragged down by the politics of Wildwood (both the corrupt Southland government and war with the Dowager Governess). I felt like these could have been two books and I found myself shocked that this is going to be a trilogy. What else could possibly happen in two more books??

I'm late to the discussion on this one, but I wanted to say that I loved the premise but was a little disappointed in it. On a detail level it was great - pieces of character or setting or concepts or the illustrations, but as a novel it had some pacing and depth issues. It felt too full of things, and the plot ended up feeling secondary to all the other things.

I also didn't believe that these were kids - they talked in a way that didn't sound like average kids or bright kids (or even adults, really). And like Hilary, I was completely pulled out of the story when Prue's parents threw up their hands over losing the baby. Seriously?

All that said, I enjoyed it - I just don't think it's distinguished or Newbery material.