Culture

Wildwood is a children’s novel that follows Prue McKeel’s adventures in the Impassable Wilderness behind her suburb. She and her classmate Curtis discover the hidden province of Wildwood as they track a murder of crows that abducted her baby brother Mac. Wildwood is in political upheaval: there’s a malevolent Dowager Governess, an Owl Prince who questions the unconstitutional actions of the state and a coyote militia. The Wood encompasses various cultures and talking animals compete for control. Prue and Curtis must navigate bureaucracy and bandits in an attempt to save Mac. Like all good fantasy, Wildwood has a history and anthropology that is complex enough for the reader to dig into.

Colin Meloy, the lead singer of the indie band The Decemberists, is the author. Meloy has a very particular method of story telling, that involves infusions of folk tales and many, many adjectives. The illustrations by Carson Ellis are also worth noting. Ellis’ style and muted colour palate is organic and fascinating. The artwork enhances the woodsy, adventurous feel of the book. Maps and illustrations add another facet to any story. One picture, particularly, of prisoner cages strung perilously from the root system of tree in an underground cavern, has carved itself a place in my mind. Adult fiction would be better off with pictures. Someone start a petition.

The novel borders on being pretentious. For example, in the first chapter, Prue “sipped steamed milk and watched through the window as the café employees awkwardly installed a secondhand elk head trophy on the wall” – fair warning to any hipster haters, Wildwood is set in Portland, Oregon. Avoid the book if you don’t enjoy flannel and flower beards.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, despite being a decade older than the intended readership. I appreciated the authorial style considering The Decemberists are my absolute favourite band forever and ever. (I recommend albums The Crane Wife and The King is Dead to newcomers.) Meloy’s winding, literary songwriting style is well suited to fiction.

Reading about the adventures of a capable 12-year-old girl was incredibly heartening. Prue keeps a sketchbook and built her own bike. She’s the coolest female heroine I’ve encountered in a while; I wish I could post the book back in time to myself. Wildwood is a modern, less sexist Narnia.

The idea that you can just stumble across a secret civilisation strips some of the mundane-ness from life. (I’m convinced Archway is hiding some pathway to another dimension. Why else would it be such a labyrinth?) Instead of creating an entire new universe, Wildwood explores a fantastical element of our own world. The possibility of magic in everyday life is appealing, as is the sense of pure story telling that accompanies children’s literature. Wildwood is a worthwhile read that will spark the imagination.