Monthly Archives: October 2023

A grown-up retelling of two classic stories, Through an Emerald Gale (A Snowfall in Oz Book 1) by Jordan Riley Swan is an epic collision of magic and royalty in the whimsical land of Oz. A sinister queen has her malevolent sights set on ultimate youth and eternal power, but the infamous Wicked Witch will go to war before she bends the knee. Leo, Nik, Crow, and Dorothy are a nostalgic group of familiar heroes, while Swan’s dextrous and deliciously clever pen makes this darkly entertaining story come to shimmering life with vivid scene-setting and an unpredictable storyline. Deftly melding […]

Following in the tradition of Animal Farm, but with a lighter touch, The Perilous Journey of Gavin the Great by Don Gutteridge is an enchanting fable for all ages, full of poetry and wit. Gavin, a young raccoon, wakes up after a storm to find Earthwood changed into a desert of mud and fog, offering a not-so-subtle allegory to our current living conditions. Gavin knows he needs to take responsibility for his brothers and for all wood creatures in the difficult journey ahead that will redefine what home means for everyone, illustrating how best to act in a time […]

Reframing the scope of existence with comforting charm and emotional weight, The Perilous Journey of Gavin the Great by Don Gutteridge is the deceptively whimsical story of an unavoidable animal exodus in the face of environmental disaster, and the collisions of fear and ambition that inevitably arise. Peppered with compelling black and white illustrations, the richly told story is brought even more vividly to life through these visual additions, for a beautifully conceived fable both visually and lyrically. A hard-hitting allegory for a readership of “Tallwalkers” on the precipice of their own macrocosmic catastrophe, this novel succeeds in teaching empathy […]