Into Goblyn Wood

Wr. Anna Kemp

Pub. Simon & Schuster

Age Range - 9+ years

Hazel has always known she was different, but she doesn’t know where she came from. When her best friend Pete is kidnapped by strange creatures, she must gather her courage and enter Goblyn Wood, a forest inhabited by fairies. But their magic is being drained away, and Hazel soon realises that her own power is the key to saving both Pete and her new friends. Embarking on an epic journey of discovery, can Hazel restore the balance of the fairy realm?

"If you think you know faeries - think again!"

You know a book is going to hook you when you find a map inside. Any fantasy world that requires the reader to have sight of a map is a world on which the writer has lavished attention!

Anna Kemp's style is effortlessly cool: funny, engaging, and accomplished. The world she has created is vivid and richly imagined, and this is coming from someone who generally doesn't read fantasy. I found the pages flying by, and reading it in time to review it for the blog tour turned out to be far less difficult than I expected!

I won't offer any spoilers (but if you think you know faeries - think again!). Suffice to say that Ditchmoor School for the Wretched reminded me very much of the Little Tulip in the Unadoptables. They're carved from the same dreadful wood. And, just like Milou and her friends, in the Unadoptables, Hazel has a mysterious past. It's a formula that works, and I'm on board for it every single time!

Into Goblyn Wood is aimed at a younger audience (9+) than the books I usually read. I was gratified by what I experienced. If this is a flavour of what else is out there, then children's literature is even more glorious than I thought!

Into Goblyn Wood is beautifully written, tightly plotted, and leaves you on a cliffhanger that will keep you clamoring for more.

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teaching resources

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Yeah yeah, they're coming, sheesh.