Book Review: Out of the Woods by Lyn Gardner

Out of the Woods
by Lyn Gardner
Eden Sisters

David Fickling Books
ISBN-10: 0-385-75154-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-75154-4
Publication Date: April, 2010
List Price: $17.99

Review: Fun, adventure, love, and witches! This is what 12-year-old Storm, an adventurous young girl, and her sisters, the beautiful Aurora, and the remarkable two-year-old Any encounter in their everyday lives in Out of the Woods. Out of the Woods is the sequel to Into the Woods, by Lyn Gardner, and the wonderful illustrations of Mini Grey.

In Out of The Woods, Storm’s mother has died, and their father goes on many expeditions that last him weeks, sometimes months to complete. His goal is to find the only dragon that has sweet disposition in the world. The girls are pretty much on their own. When their father goes on one more expedition, the girls are pretty scared. Aurora is stressing over the bills, and Storm just wants to be with her mother. Storm makes daily visits to her mom’s grave, and talks to her. But when a strange fun fair flyer blows by Storm really wants to go, little does she know that the fun fair is just a trap. Unfortunately, she just doesn’t have money. Luckily, she meets a “nice” old lady (who is really the mean old witch Belladonna) who gives her and her sisters some free rides. Her and her sisters can’t refuse now. Little do they know that the fun fair isn’t much fun at all. It is just a boatload of scares! When their new “step mom” (who is really Belladonna) comes to save them, they run into her loving arms. Sadly, she brings them bad news of their father’s death. Belladonna is really just a mean witch that uses a magic mirror to change her appearance. Storm suspects her right away, and is mad. Then they find out the truth. Belladonna is about to get the girls into a world of adventure and trouble in Out of The Woods!

Overall Out of the Woods is a wonderful book! I just loved how much it had other fairy tales entwined with one very original book! For example, there is the Wolf from Little Red Robin Hood, and the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White. I also loved that it is a page-turner. One minute your favorite character is a frog, and then they are human, and then back to a frog. I was also sad when it ended. The illustrations are fantastic, and I think that they really add to the story. Also, even though there are a few references to other fairy tales, the author kept her book very original which is hard to do. While I loved this book, there were a few things that I would like to mention. One of these is read the first book before you read this one. It helps, because the girls keep referring to things from the other book. It isn’t hard to understand, but it would defiantly help. For example, it would have been better to know more about the pipe, and not just have it mentioned. I also think that there was some mild violence in this book, but it was nothing to bad. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars, but wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under fourth grade.

Review written by Kayley (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Out of the Woods for this review.

Have you read Out of the Woods? How would you rate it?