Parents' Guide to

Barkbelly

By Matt Berman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Wooden boy seeks family in sprawling adventure.

Book Cat Weatherill Fantasy 2006
Barkbelly Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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What's the Story?

A farmer finds a wooden egg in a field and takes it home. One winter night he throws it on the fire, and is surprised when a wooden baby pops out of it. He and his wife adopt the child, who grows up strong and tough, and they name him Barkbelly.

One day at school Barkbelly accidentally kills one of his schoolmates. Sure that the townspeople will kill him, he flees and has a series of adventures, including working in a jam factory and joining a traveling circus. Along the way he learns that there is an island where other wooden people live, and he becomes determined to make his way there and find his family.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
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Kids say (1 ):

Like Barkbelly himself, this book is not quite like anything else you've read. Reading the flap copy you might be tempted to think it's a Pinocchio variation, but aside from being about a wooden boy on a journey, they're not much alike.

Storyteller and first-time author Cat Weatherill has a unique imagination, and she puts it to work with a light touch on the fantasy elements, some lyrical language, and a picaresque journey through a fascinating world. It's an unfortunate surprise, then, that after displaying such deft handling of her unusual story, the author resorts to a deus ex machina to magically resolve the story into a too-pat ending. But this doesn't dampen the pleasure of the rest of the book, and Weatherill partially makes up for it by including a delightful little fable as an epilogue.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Barkbelly's quest for his own people and family. Why is this so important to him? Why is he so thrilled to learn that there are others like him? Why does he decide to return to his adoptive family, even knowing what awaits him there?

Book Details

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