Saturday, October 13, 2018

OTHERWOOD by Pete Hautman

Otherwood
Nine year old Stuey loves wandering in the woods his great-grandfather once owned. According to his grandfather, the area was once a golf course until it closed and the wild of the woods took over. Stuey's favorite spot is a deadfall where a number of trees fell creating a tepee-like structure that makes the perfect secret place.

Speaking of secrets, Stuey's grandfather had something to say about secrets, too. He told Stuey that secrets can split reality. If you have a secret from someone, that means that you live in one reality with the secret and they live in another reality without the secret. Grandfather also believed in ghosts.

All of Grandfather's wisdom usually confused Stuey, but after the old man died and Stuey met a new friend named Elly Rose, secrets and ghosts came to have a more important meaning. The threat that the woods were to be destroyed to build a mall and then the disappearance of Elly Rose change things forever for Stuey.

Author Pete Hautman combines reality and fantasy in this unique tale. Readers will ask questions about the real possibilities of parallel worlds and ghostly intervention after they read about the friendship of Stuey and Elly Rose and their adventures in Westdale Wood.

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