Parents' Guide to

Dreamwood

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Fearless heroine tackles a deliciously creepy forest quest.

Book Heather Mackey Fantasy 2014
Dreamwood Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

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What's the Story?

Lucy can't wait to see her father, so she ditches her boring boarding school in San Francisco and takes the train north to where he's busy doing his work as a ghost catcher. When she arrives at the station of a small and somewhat rough logging town, he's not only not there to greet her, no one's seen him for weeks. In his last letter he claimed to be on to something big, and the notes he left behind claim it had to do with a strange disease affecting the trees, a disease some of the townspeople want to blame him for. She figures out he's gone to an abandoned and possibly cursed forest called the Devil's Thumb, a place where her father thinks the disease began. She's determined to find him on her own until a local boy named Pete, whose parents are ruined by the lumber crisis, convinces her she needs help as much as he needs money to save his family. Apparently the cursed forest used to be covered in trees called Dreamwood that have magic and healing properties. If there's only one Dreamwood tree left, it could make them rich and save the forests. But something -- a force -- is in that wood and very protective of everything in it. They're warned not to take anything unless it is freely given. Lucy wonders how her father could survive there so long. What if they're too late to save her father and the last Dreamwood in the forest?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

DREAMWOOD has everything going for it. Lucy, the heroine, is pretty awesome. Not many girls escaping finishing schools know how to hunt ghosts and do it fearlessly. Debut author Heather Mackey has a gift for creating compelling characters, right down to the oddballs in the small logging town. She also creates a fantastic world that grounds us in a little reality -- it feels like the early 20th century of the Pacific Northwest -- but has enough twists on the theme to keep readers guessing -- such as sea serpents as well as First Peoples who live more in harmony with the settlers than Native Americans did but also are to blame for the danger that lies in the woods.

The woods of Devil's Thumb are deliciously creepy. By the time readers get to that part of the adventure, there's no putting the book down. The story moves fast, twists and turns like a gnarled old tree, and stays complex and scary. It's quite a feat for a first-time novelist.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about being scared. How did Lucy handle it when she was scared of ghosts? Think of a time when you faced a big fear. How did you do it?

  • What happened to the settlers of Devil's Thumb? How is this story, even though it's fantasy, a real cautionary tale?

  • Where is Lucy going next? Which of her qualities do you admire? What do you think she'll be like when she grows up?

Book Details

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