What I'm Reading: Wildwood, by Colin Meloy
My weekday off this week was Tuesday, and so I went out for breakfast with a friend of mine who had never been to Beans and Barley on Milwaukee's East Side. (You've been there, right? Please say yes!) She's a teacher, so I wanted to catch her for a social hour before her hectic school year begins! We live about two blocks from each other, and she's wedding planning, so there's always a lot to talk about.
I worked at Beans for a little while when I was in college, and it was one of my favorite jobs, so I go there quite frequently. (For lunch or dinner, I suggest any of the burritos WITH a margarita; for breakfast, the pesto scrambled eggs.)
Anyway, after breakfast I mentioned that I needed to go to Boswell Book Company to preorder these Puffin in Bloom books... and here I was to discover that my sweet, sassy friend, had NEVER been to BOSWELL! A misfortune to be corrected, we made the quick drive to this special Milwaukee bookstore.
(You will hear more about these beautiful, Rifle Paper Co editions after August 28th, when they finally debut...and I pick up my copies!)
As my friend is a school teacher, we headed to the children's book area of the store. I love reading children's books since the writing is so deliberate and illustrations so vibrant or just plain beautiful. We laughed over a book by Peter Brown entitled, My Teacher is a Monster! (No, I am Not.) which I highly suggest reading.
While browsing, I came across a series of books called the Wildwood Chronicles which are written by Colin Meloy, the lead singer of The Decemberists. I couldn't believe it, can hardly believe it still.
I opened to the first page of the first book and began reading. Two chapters in, I decided to buy it.
You guys, it's so good.
Yes, this is a children's book. However, it is a New York Times Best Seller, and a quote from a review from The Atlantic is on the back cover. I could get into a discussion about commercial fiction and "is readability a good thing;" or, "just because it's difficult to read doesn't make it 'Literature;'" and that whole, "adults reading Harry Potter thing;" but I won't. What is important here, is that you read this exciting book and find out if the baby abducted by a murder of crows will EVER be discovered in the Impassable Wilderness.
I cannot wait to find out!
...PS, Carson Ellis does the art in this book, and it's lovely.
This post is part of a weekly series on "What I'm Reading." I'll be talking about whatever book I happen to be reading, and you can look for this series every Friday.