The Story Web

April 1, 2019

Gr 3-6-Told in multiple perspectives, this story depicts magical realism with real-life consequences. Long ago, animals and humans were connected and able to communicate. Humans shared their stories and spiders wove them into the Story Web, but the stories are no longer shared and the connection has been lost, which has brought about the Freezing. The animal council has gathered and is desperately trying to communicate with Alice, who as a child followed a strand to the Story Web. Yet she no longer believes in the power of stories since her father, who is suffering from PTSD, was hospitalized following a breakdown that Alice blames on herself. Alice, along with classmates Lewis and Melanie, tries to help, but it is not until all three children share their truth and realize how fear and rumors can twist into harmful stories that the Freezing can be stopped. Readers who enjoy quiet, slow-building action will be rewarded with an emotionally satisfying conclusion. The importance of sharing one's stories is a theme that will resonate with many. VERDICT Recommended for collections where magical realism is popular and stories about PTSD are needed.-Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2019
Fifth-grader Alice Dingwell believes it is her fault her father has gone away, and she struggles to find her footing in her changed life. When Alice was a young child, she followed a silken strand of thread to a giant web in the forest. Her father, Buzz, a hockey hero in their depressed Maine mill town, told her it was a Story Web, an essential part of the Earth's well-being. Now, five years later, Alice's father has checked himself into a psychiatric hospital after serving in Afghanistan, and Alice's only connection with him is through his letters, which wander in and out of reality. Alice's guilt over her perceived role in her father's unraveling propels her to shrink from life, keeping others at a distance and quitting the hockey team. But when forest animals begin showing up in town and seem to specifically seek Alice out, she wonders if the Story Web is in danger and, reluctantly at first, begins to seek answers. Blakemore's ambitious tale, like her fine and original web premise, is filled with many adjunct threads. Most weave together strongly, but some feel underdeveloped. That said, the story's essential theme--the importance of trust and connection in the health of a community--is an important one in this divisive time. Alice is white, and the rest of the community seems to be white as well. An ambitious and mostly successful tale about stories and their essential role in creating connection. (Fantasy. 8-11)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 15, 2019
Grades 3-6 Alice was raised on a steady diet of hockey and stories. Her father, local athlete cum hero, told wild stories tinged with fantasy that all contained a kernel of truth. When he has to leave their home, since his PTSD prevents him from living a normal life, Alice blames herself and withdraws from the people around her?even her hockey team. Then animals appear to warn her of the sad state of the Story Web, a physical manifestation of the web that binds all organisms together. Alice must face, and share, hard truths in order to fix what is broken. This story is sad, but hopeful, as Alice frequently repeats her father's mantra of "Be bold. Be brave. Be fierce." Fans of The Odyssey and other mythological stories will see familiar threads as the author likens Alice's father's time away at a medical facility to Odysseus' journey. In this modern fable, the narrative perspective shifts from Alice to her pals and various animals, and readers get a lesson in the importance of honesty versus allowing rumors to spread.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)