FINISHED:
Newbery, Linda. (2010). Lucy and the Green Man. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[Review forthcoming...

Here:
When her grandfather dies and his cottage and garden are sold to a redeveloper, Lucy worries that the Green Man (aka Lob), a shadowy being that lives in the garden who only she and her grandfather can see, will have nowhere to go. Lucy keeps Lob’s memory alive by making pictures of him and talking about him to her friends, though after continually being made fun of she eventually gives up hope of ever seeing the Green Man again. Meanwhile, Lob begins to travel, feeling mysteriously compelled in one direction, eventually coming upon an elaborate garden show in London. There he meets and goes home with an old gardener, Cornelius, who is able to see him, ending up helping to tend Cornelius’s community garden plot. In the end, coincidentally, Lucy and her family are awarded a plot in the community garden right next to where the Green Man has settled. Newbery’s tome is rich on mood and poetic flow: chapters are laid out over the course of a calendar year, marking a change in seasons; Lob’s thoughts are often expressed in a larger font and verse (“Work here’s done. The road’s calling. South. South. Head south, to the glittering city, the snaking river, where roads run together like the centre of a web. The road leads south, the rushing trains, the humming and buzzing in the wires. Walk. Walk.”); and there are quite a few impressionistic ink-pen drawings throughout. Though I really liked the tone and flow of this one, I fear that it may be too esoteric and, thus, have limited appeal to its intended crowd.]

STARTED:
Nix, Garth, and Williams, Sean. (2011). Troubletwisters. New York: Scholastic.

[Have never read any Nix and was intrigued by the cover art on this one.]

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