Stormwalker

September 15, 2016
After a 12-year-old British boy's mum dies of leukemia, he finds himself teleported into the novel that his writer father has created to address his own grief.Owen Smith desperately wants his dad back--to come to his football games, make dinner, be there for him when he needs him. But a year after his mother's death, Owen's father is having difficulty overcoming depression, until at Owen's urging he seeks counseling and starts writing again. The father's novel is a grim fantasy story about a world threatened by the zombielike Dreamless, former humans who have been exposed to the looming Darkness. The white lad is physically transported into the tale, missing school and sports events in the process. Occasionally arbitrary and repetitive, Revell's metafictive story within a story is slow to take off but eventually effectively uses metaphors to explore depression, not unlike the soul-sucking Dementors of Harry Potter fame. Within the father's saga, Owen's mum reassures him that a person doesn't have to be alive to be an important part of someone else's story. Ultimately, Owen and his father relive their best memories of Owen's mum and scatter her ashes over the ocean, as she had wanted. An active and compassionate middle-grade primer on overcoming grief. (Fantasy. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-It's been a year since 12-year-old Owen's artist mom died, but he and his dad are still adjusting to the changes. While Owen focuses on his soccer games, his dad, a writer, has been unable to pick up the pen since their loss. When his dad finally starts writing again, Owen is suddenly sucked into the dystopian landscape of his father's futuristic story. By navigating the bleak terrain in his father's realm, Owen hopes he can help his dad heal in the real world. Despite the sentimentality, the plot focuses on action and suspense. The characters are mostly white and male, with somewhat bland personalities. Some readers may find the Briticisms confusing, particularly the sports terminology, but otherwise, this dystopian tale aims at a younger crowd than most in the genre. Although the writing builds up a generous amount of anticipation, the final reveal seems too easy. VERDICT This may find a place in libraries in want of male-oriented, action-packed, and/or younger dystopian adventures.-Erin Reilly-Sanders, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Grades 5-7 Revell (Stonebird, 2015) offers another involving, mostly realistic novel that revolves around an element of magic. It's been almost a year since Owen's mum died, but his father has become increasingly withdrawn. When Dad finally seeks counseling and returns to his life's work, writing fiction, he begins to pull out of his depression. Unknown to him, though, his writing has a disturbing effect on 12-year-old Owen, who is periodically wrenched from his everyday reality to become the protagonist of Dad's latest work, a dystopian novel. As dark and dangerous as his life becomes, Owen feels compelled to see the story through, since writing is his father's only path out of grief and despair. Readers will root for Owen, who confides his incredible secret to his best friend, only to be called a liar. While the novel within a novel seems a bit thinner than Owen's real-world narrative, it works effectively as a plot-based first draft told from the point of view of an unusual protagonist. On both levels, Revell's well-paced storytelling will keep the pages turning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)