Vorab-RezensentenJennifer Grace

A godly girl keeps a cheerful countenance. A godly girl never tempts a boy. A godly girl always keeps sweet. Rachel Walker is devoted to God. She prays every day, attends Calvary Christian Church with her family, helps care for her five younger siblings, dresses modestly, and prepares herself to be a wife and mother who serves the Lord with joy. But Rachel is curious about the world her family has turned away from. What is she to make of the boy recently returned from camp Journey of Faith with newfound piety? Or of her mother’s miscarriage and resulting depression? And how should she respond to Lauren, the girl who left the church several years ago and who has recently returned to town? Rachel knows she should find solace in her beliefs, but she can’t shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

Heather Mackey has captivated listeners everywhere with this spellbinding middle-grade fantasy debut. In Dreamwood, Lucy Darrington sets off in search of her father, who’s somewhere in the Pacific Northwest on a quest for the magical dreamwood. Accompanied by her friend Pete, Lucy soon runs up against Lupine princesses, sea monsters, and the frightening secret of dreamwood itself. (Fantasy/Ages 10 and up) Lucy Darrington has no choice but to run away from boarding school. Her father, an expert on the supernatural, has been away for too long while doing research in Saarthe, a remote territory in the Pacific Northwest populated by towering redwoods, timber barons, and the Lupine people. But upon arriving, she learns her father is missing: Rumor has it he’s gone in search of dreamwood, a rare tree with magical properties that just might hold the cure for the blight that’s ravaging the forests of Saarthe. Determined to find her father (and possibly save Saarthe), Lucy and her vexingly stubborn friend Pete follow William Darrington’s trail to the deadly woods on Devil’s Thumb. As they encounter Lupine princesses, giant sea serpents, and all manner of terrifying creatures, Lucy hasn’t reckoned that the dreamwood itself might be the greatest threat of all.