Willowdeen

Title:Willowdeen

Author: Katherine Applegate

Publisher: Square Fish

Date of publication: 2024

Number of pages: 272

Genre: fantasy, but with realistic fiction themes

Audience age range: ages 8-11

A quick personal review:

I love Katherine Applegate's books, so I was eager to read this!  Fantasy is also a genre I enjoy, especially when a new world is created for children in the age where imagination needs a boost.  

Willowdeen is an eleven year old girl who tragically lost her family, but she is being raised by two older community members whose love and kindness help Willowdeen tremendously.  Willowdeen also has a pet named Duuzuu, a baby hummingbear.  Hummingbears are tiny creatures that migrate to the village of Perchance annually because of the blue willow trees there, where the hummingbears build their bubble nests.  Willowdeen does not attend school often and instead wanders the forests.  She befriends the “Screechers”, which are vile smelling, earth dwelling animals.  No one in the village cares for the Screechers because of their terrible smell, and an ordinance is made to hunt and kill them. Eventually none are left, yet Willowdees is still teased about smelling badly.  

The town is worried that few hummingbears are returning to the town. During that time, Willowdeem meets Connor who loves to create tiny “puzzlers” and presents Willowdeen with a small one of a baby screecher and soon they rescue one from a small grove of blue willow trees.  There they also find baby hummingbears, but only a few.  Caring for the baby screecher is difficult for it will only eat a particular bug found at the base of the blue willows.  For Willowdeen, she wants to preserve the screechers, but she also realizes the connection to the habitat of the hummingbears.  She conducts research with the help of Connor, and her caretakers encourage her to share the findings with the town council. Willowdeen is afraid, but she knows she must stand up for the creatures.  Enticing the hummingbears back will also be good for the community, so she overcomes her fear with Connor’s help and stands up to speak for what she believes in.  Will the council listen to this little girl who is often ridiculed because of her connection to those smelly screechers?  Read this enchanting book to see if justice prevails!

Unique qualities:

The chapters are very short which moves the story along very quickly.  I was sad to see it end but wanted to know the outcome!

The theme of environmental change is vital if we are to protect our planet. Often we don’t realize that the change of one small thing has effects on so many other parts of the environment.

Empowering young people’s voices has always been an unstated desire of mine as a teacher.  Watching Willowdeen gain courage to speak out and share her research was a joy!

Red flags:

The book starts, as many Disney classics do, with the death of parents in a fire.  The scene is simply referred to, not described in any graphic form.  Willowdeen is a resilient young lady who is being raised by two older women, which is an admirable show of community support and help.  The sadness Willowdeen feels as a survivor when others in her family did not survive is palpable in the beginning of the book especially, and this could be difficult for some readers to handle.

Recommendations:

I wholeheartedly recommend this book.  From the fantastical setting with its hints of magic to its very real environmental theme, this book shares the story of friendship, concern, advocacy, and community.