Over the Woodward Wall (A. Deborah Baker)

Over the Woodward Wall
The Up-and-Under series, Book 1
A. Deborah Baker
Tordotcom
Fiction, MG? Fantasy
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Zib and Avery lived on the same street in the same town, but in different worlds. Zib was a girl of wild hair and mismatched socks, her weekends spent catching frogs in the woods. Avery was a boy of pleated pants and shiny shoes who preferred reading or studying for school. They'd never even met until the day they were both forced to detour on their way to their separate schools... and both found themselves standing before a wall that they knew they hadn't ever seen in their neighborhood before. On the far side, they find a wild and impossible woodland stretching as far as the eye can see - and a talking owl who tells them that, like it or not, they're now on an Adventure, one that can only end once they find the improbable road and follow it all the way to the Impossible City at the heart of the realm known as the Up-and-Under. As Zib and Avery began their journey together, they must end it together as well... but that's easier said than done, when they have so little in common, and when the Up-and-Under and the improbable road seem to be doing their level best to tear them apart.

REVIEW: "A. Deborah Baker" is a pseudonym for popular author Seanan McGuire; this book, her first aimed at younger readers, is actually a spinoff, referenced as an in-world classic in her dark fantasy Middlegame. (It is not necessary to have read Middlegame first, which is good as that book is most definitely not for young children; though there are story parallels, the two stand well on their own.) Over the Woodward Wall is an homage to classic portal fantasies, where children stumble into fantasy worlds and meet many strange characters in their travels, but it is also its own thing. The Up-and-Under is less friendly than classic Oz-type worlds; to enter is not to simply have a light afternoon's adventure between teatime and dinner, but to face the very real possibility of losing one's home, one's memory, even one's heart. The characters likewise are more akin to older fae tales, not always friendly to outsiders; among them, the truth is a slippery thing, and words have power that the children don't always realize until they've already spoken. Zib and Avery make decent heroes, both young enough to make mistakes and clever enough to (mostly) learn from them. The whole is a fine adventure with nice mind's-eye-candy and turns of phrase, though it does not end with a neat wrap-up; it's the first in a series, after all. It's an enjoyable and imaginative tale, one that can be enjoyed by young and old alike.

You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) - My Review
The Divide (Elizabeth Kay) - My Review
Middlegame (Seanan McGuire) - My Review