Willa of the Wood

July 1, 2018
The old sourwood trees, the rushing streams and rivers, and the great mountain are home to 12-year-old Willa. She and her mamaw live in Dead Hollow with hundreds of her dwindling Faeran clan. Ruled over by their fearsome leader and god, the padaran, the Faeran are a woodland race who once numbered in the thousands, living on the Smoky Mountain as stewards of the forest. Under the rule of the padaran, the old ways of speaking to animals and plants, foraging and caretaking, and using the old language are forbidden. Instead, Faeran children are forced to speak Eng-lish and drafted into his fearsome army of trained hunter-thieves called jaetters, who must steal from the day-folk, or white homesteaders. One night, Willa breaks into a homesteader's cabin and is badly wounded. When the human man sees that she's so gravely hurt, he tries to help--to her shock. Willa flees to Dead Hollow, where she is shocked to discover a young Cherokee boy along with many other human children imprisoned. As she sets out to unravel this mystery, she grows to understand the power of individual choice and of standing up for what's right. Beatty writes a close third-person narration from Willa's perspective, allowing readers to see the various humans she encounters through her eyes: the Cherokee the Faeran predated but live peacefully alongside; the day-folk the jaetters steal from; and the loggers and developers who do violence to them all--and with whom the padaran has more in common than he should.A moving, atmospheric journey of hope. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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August 20, 2018
In this charming middle grade adventure set in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains in 1900, Willa, a young Faeran, or night-spirit, is caught between her own slowly dying clan and the human “day-folk,” whom she’s always been taught to fear and avoid. As a jaetter or hunter-thief, Willa is responsible for stealing from the day-folk to benefit her clan and its charismatic leader, the padaran. But a botched scavenging attempt reveals that not all humans are murderous monsters. Her additional discovery that her own people hold dangerous secrets prompts her to defy the enigmatic padaran and seek a way to correct a grievous wrong. Faced with the potential destruction of everything she’s known, Willa takes control of her own destiny. In this series starter set in the same world as his Serafina books, Beatty conjures up a resourceful, compassionate heroine. Full of atmospheric details and richly described magic (“As the branches reached out over the water to hold her, they rustled in the wind, talking”), this well-paced tale asks insightful questions about the relationship between nature and humans. Ages 8–12. Agent: Bill Contardi, Brandt & Hochman.