Colin Meloy

When her baby brother is kidnapped by crows, seventh-grader Prue McKeel ventures into the forbidden Impassable Wilderness--a dangerous and magical forest at the edge of Portland, Oregon--and soon finds herself involved in a war among the various inhabitants.

"A young girl's midnight séance awakens a long-slumbering malevolent spirit... A band of runaway orphans allies with an underground collective of saboteurs and plans a daring rescue of their friends, imprisoned in the belly of an industrial wasteland... Two old friends draw closer to their goal of bringing together a pair of exiled toy makers in order to reanimate a mechanical boy prince... As the fate of Wildwood hangs in the balance"--Dust jacket....

"Maybe Archie Coomes has been watching too many horror movies. All of a sudden, the most ordinary things have taken on a sinister edge: a penny on a doormat. A man in a brown suit under a streetlamp. The persistent sound of an ax chopping in the middle of the night. He keeps telling himself that this is Seaham, a sleepy seaside town where nothing ever happens. Or at least nothing did, until his dad's construction company opened up the cliff beneath...

In this house, when everyone stays awake at night, things get very strange, what with Mom on the roof, and Grandma playing cards with the ghost of long-dead Grandpa Paul, and even the dog and cat are acting weird; as the family's doings become more and more bizarre, the narrator starts to wonder--what on earth will happen when morning finally comes.