October 22, 2026, Book review by Shandra Conley for Dreamland Books and Yarn

Into the deep, dark, wild woods…

For the majority of my childhood, I lived in a corner house at the bottom of a hill. At the top of my street, there was a line of houses that served as a boundary between the neighborhood below and the woods beyond. The woods always seemed so mysterious and wild. As a kid, I would hear stories of spooky creatures or scary people who lived in these woods. I was never brave enough to step more than a few feet into the woods before I would quickly turn on my heels to safety. Although during my younger years I was afraid to explore these woods, this novel allowed me to reimagine those childhood memories and be transported into the fantastical woods of “Wildwood.”

When I first saw this novel on the shelf at Dreamland, my eyes were immediately drawn to this trilogy due to the art on the spine.  As I slid the first book off the shelf, I took note of its deckle edges and knew I needed to have this book series. “Wildwood” by Colin Meloy is considered a middle-grade book, but do not let that fool you into thinking this is a light or easy read. As I dove into this book, I did find myself being exposed to new vocabulary that made me question if I should keep a dictionary at hand. At 541 pages, this book showed me that there continues to be a plethora of words to learn in this life, even in a book geared toward children or young adults.

“Wildwood” follows the story of a 12-year-old girl named Prue, who unexpectedly has a run-in with a murder of crows that forces her to journey into the Impassable Woods. Meloy was able to eloquently submerge us into the world he has crafted with the aid of illustrations by Carson Ellis. With every chapter, I was beckoned to read “just one more.” If the magical and mythical lore of this book did not already make it hard to put down, the discovery that this book was being made into a stop-motion claymation film pushed me to read it as fast as I could.

For those of you who have kept up with my reviews, you may have noticed I do read quite a few books that end up as films. It seems I unknowingly have a gift of choosing books that end up on the big screen. This particular book’s film comes out today, October 22! Of course, this is a review of just the book; however, for those of you who might not want to tackle the 541 pages, I do encourage you to see the film. Who knows? It may inspire you to dive into the other two books of the trilogy. As for me, the first book jolted me straight into the next and I am now continuing my journey further into the deep, dark, wild woods.