With Wildwood, Meloy furthers this vein, although the magical land that the characters travel to is not another world as in Wilson's books but a menacing parcel of nature right next door to home. With this in mind, he set out to write a fantasy set squarely in America and American culture and he did. A few years ago I read a quote from ND Wilson ( 100 Cupboards trilogy) about the perception among readers that all fantasy stories are set in England. Wildwood covers some familiar territory and stakes out some new ground as well.

This knowledge children's literature and experience as parents is evident in every page of Wildwood. In an interview with The Atlantic, the pair shared that they had been developing the setting and plot for the book over the course of the last ten years but that the story really began to take shape when their son was old enough to begin listening to and reading kid’s books and the couple started to explore kid’s literature with him. Meloy and Ellis are married and live in Portland, OR with their son Hank. Carson Ellis, who’s artwork I’m sure you all recognize from Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society (although not the subsequent books in the series) is also well known for illustrating the covers of The Decembrists' albums.

The band is known for epic ballads that often tell stories focusing on historical events and folklore. For those of you who don’t know, Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the band The Decembrists. It’s not often that I choose to read a book over 400 pages these days, but Wildwood by Colin Meloy with illustrations and maps by Carson Ellis, had enough to recommend it that I willingly dove into this 541 page tome.

Wildwood meloy ellis