Willodeen

Willodeen

Katherine Applegate

Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, 2021

272 pages

Grades 3-6

Fantasy

Willodeen has never been the same since the fire that killed her small family and ruined her life. Now she lives with two kind former thespian ladies, who, though aging, share shelter, comfort, and love. Willodeen walks to the beat of her own drummer and would rather be in nature with her pet hummingbear Duuzuu. She rarely journeys into town, does not attend school, and shies away from humans. Always fascinated by the screechers, a nasty animal that omits a terrible gassy smell, she becomes concerned when noticing that they are being hunted to extinction. A first and unexpectedly like-minded friend, Connor, encourages her to attend the town meeting to attempt to cease the hunting. The town is more concerned with the disappearance of the hummingbears, of which there livelihood relies. No one seems to care about the screechers. When a baby screecher, appears seemingly by magic, Willodeen takes matters in her own hands and through trial and error and careful observation learns how to care for these elusive creatures--saving the town in the process.

Newbery winner of The One and Only Ivan fame pours her talents into an original folktale, that feels like the past, yet with modern sensibilities. Applegate spins her yarn, featuring an unexpected, yet sympathetic, antihero who must fight the establishment to save the day. Within the tale exists a fairly obvious agenda of animal rights, environmentalism, and the effects of "progress". Young readers will cheer for Willodeen and care about her plight. There is a mystery element as the town attempts to figure out what is happening to the hummingbears. Readers may get there before Willodeen, which will make them feel competent and gain ownership of the story. This is also a tale of friendship as Willodeen makes her first human friend and learns to trust her caretakers and allows herself to love the lot of them. Sweet black and white illustrations, contributed by Charles Santoso, enhance the text and help readers with a visual of the mythical creatures. The book reads quickly with large print and wide margins and would make an excellent read-aloud for both home and classrooms.