Otherwood

Starred review from July 30, 2018
An isolated boy witnesses a strange, terrible event in the wood near his house in this haunting novel by Hautman (Eden West). No other children live in Stuey’s neighborhood, so he has relied on his grandfather for companionship. After Gramps perishes during a storm, Stuey feels empty and alone but finds a kindred spirit in Elly Rose, who lives on the other side of the wood and, he finds out, shares a piece of his family history: their great-grandfathers—one a bootlegger, one a district attorney—were enemies who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the very area where the children usually play. When Stuey tells Elly Rose of their connection, she vanishes as mysteriously as their ancestors. Only Stuey knows what happened to her, but no one will believe his version of the story. As evocative as a David Almond novel, and as infused with heartache and affirmation, Stuey’s story will set imaginations spinning with possibilities about other worlds, ancient sins, and the power of truth. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Flannery, Flannery Literary.

August 1, 2018

Gr 5-7-Stuey Becker lives a comfortable, outdoorsy life in Minnesota with his artist mom and Grandpa Zach, in a rambling house at the edge of Westdale Wood. Family roots run deep in the area: Westdale Wood is set on the overgrown remains of Westdale Country Club, founded by Stuey's great-grandfather, and the scene of Pop's disappearance in the 1930s. Stuey meets Elly Rose, a girl who shares his birthday, and also has a great-grandfather who disappeared. She insists that Stuey's tree-shrouded hideout is her secret discovery: Castle Rose. When Elly disappears, the town is thrown into an uproar, and Stuey is afraid to tell anyone what he knows about it. Hautman plays with time and reality, spitting the story into two narratives, Stuey's and Elly's. The story lines touchingly merge for a satisfying conclusion. The main characters are likable and thoughtfully developed, with intelligence and flashes of humor. VERDICT Though Stuey and Elly begin the story at eight years old and are nearly 11 years old by the end, some relatively complex concepts (quantum reality; Prohibition) tip this toward strong middle grade readers. A good choice for fans of Wendy Mass's 11 Birthdays, or the offbeat reality of Amy Sarig King's Me and Marvin Gardens.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley Sch., Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 Stuey lives behind an overgrown golf course, more wild now than manicured. At its center is a deadfall, with bent trees forming a shelter. On his ninth birthday, Stuey meets Elly Rose at the deadfall, which is a special place for both of them. A true friendship is born. Two years go by with Elly Rose unknowing that her and Stuey's past is connected by their great-grandfathers, who despised?and perhaps murdered?each another. When Stuey shares the news on their eleventh birthday, the force of the old history literally rips the universe. Stuey sees Elly fade away, and in his reality, people think she's been abducted or murdered. Later, readers learn Elly is in alternative universe where it's Stuey who has disappeared. Explaining the implications of concurrent realities is not an easy task, but one Hautman handles skillfully. His fluid writing and lush descriptions of the natural world carry the story, even when questions of how and why remain. Readers will race to the end to learn how it all untangles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
A generations-old secret related to their great-grandfathers splits nine-year-old "soul mates" Stuey and Elly into alternate realities. From here Hautman unfolds a dark tale involving families falling apart, woodlands being destroyed, and suspicion landing on innocent parties, but it's also a tender story of the friends' continuing connection. This is an intricately woven, affecting novel about the power of friendship, the corrosiveness of secrets, and the mysterious possibilities of the world.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
On the eve of their ninth birthdays, Stuey and Elly meet and become instant soul mates who can't have any secrets from each other. And so the stage is set: soon, because of a generations-old secret that involves their great-grandfathers (one a bootlegger, the other a crusading district attorney) and Stuey's recently deceased Grandpa Zach, their lives split into alternate realities. In Stuey's world, Elly disappears one day into thin air; in Elly's, it's Stuey who goes missing. From here Hautman unfolds a dark tale in which families fall apart, woodlands are destroyed, and suspicion falls on innocent parties. But it's also a tender story of Stuey and Elly's continuing connection: as the years pass, their separate worlds occasionally overlap, but only at the exact spot where they disappeared. They wish desperately for the world to be stuck back together again, but nothing happens until their thirteenth birthdays, when Stuey finally uncovers the devastating family secret and manages to share it with Elly?and their worlds merge once again. This is pretty sophisticated stuff for the book's intended audience, even though Hautman lays the groundwork for the concept of alternate realities via the quantum physics-obsessed Grandpa Zach, who frequently lectures Stuey about atoms and time and space and how two opposite things could be true at the same time. And it stretches credulity that it takes Stuey years to look in Grandpa Zach's room for the notebook that Tells All. Ultimately, however, this is an intricately woven and affecting novel about the power of true friendship, the corrosiveness of secrets and guilt, and the mysterious possibilities of the world. martha v. Parravano

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from August 1, 2018
Stuey and his best friend, Elly Rose, both 9, share a birthday and love of the wild woods until a discovery rips them apart, landing each in a world from which the other has disappeared.Before he died, Gramps, Stuey's grandfather, showed him where the woods have overgrown the swanky, country-club golf course Stuey's white great-grandfather, a former bootlegger, built. He disappeared there long ago, while embroiled in an argument with the Jewish district attorney investigating him, their mutual hatred fueled by anti-Semitism and class bias. Stuey lives in the old family home with his artist mother, who's opposed to selling the woods to a developer. He meets Elly Rose when her family, new arrivals, invites them over. Like Stuey, she's explored the woods, discovering a hollow clump of dead trees, the deadfall, where each has heard voices whispering. The two steal away to the woods, spin stories, and grow a unique friendship. They're soul mates. But when Stuey shares an ugly secret that touches both families, Elly Rose vanishes and his world changes: Once allies, her bereaved parents now support leveling the woods. Without Stuey, Elly Rose's world changes for the worse, too. Each longs to reconnect, but how? Shy Stuey and just-short-of-bossy Elly Rose are likable, their friendship believable and moving. Infused with the magic of the unknown, the eerie wilderness entices them, and readers, inside.An intensely atmospheric ghost story and elegy for a vanished world: spellbinding. (author's note) (Paranormal adventure. 8-12)

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