An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Here are brief reviews of two fantasy books which seem to focus on nature (especially trees and birds) while really delving into ideas about inner strengths and mutual respect. 

 
AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS by Margaret Rogerson is a wonderful debut novel blending romance, adventure and fantasy.  The main human character, 17 year-old Isobel, is a talented artist who paints portraits of Fairy Folk like Gadfly and Rook, Prince of the autumnlands.  Her “craft” helps support and protect her Aunt Emma, and two younger “sisters” (once goats, now girls due to a spell), but that lifestyle all changes when her portrait of Rook is considered too emotionally revealing and he kidnaps her to stand trial. 

As the two travel together through the Fairy Lands, their mutual attraction grows.  So, too, does the danger from a variety of beasts and fairies.  The longer descriptions of the other world of Fairy “glamour” which hides decay and rot are sickening and gruesome -- poor Isobel confronts many challenges, one after another. She is a strong heroine and Rook, too, defies his heritage in caring for her. AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal which calls this book a “Princess Bride-style magical adventure.”

WISHTREE by award-winning author Katherine Applegate is written with late elementary and middle schoolers in mind. The story centers on Red, a wise older oak tree, who relates to both humans and the many animals in the neighborhood. It is a gentle story of friendship and starts out filled with simple scientific facts and background, primarily about Red.  The power of wishes and acceptance is explored, though, when WISHTREE deals creatively with issues of anti-Muslim bigotry due to a new family moving nearby.  The publisher provides an excerpt and online discussion guide with suggested activities for this well-reviewed novel; Applegate's latest title received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

At the Edge of the Orchard is Tracy Chevalier’s newest work of historical fiction.   I was recently in Santa Cruz, California and had a chance to spend most of the day at Bookstore Santa Cruz, a large and very welcoming independent bookstore that had just hosted Tracy Chevalier on March 23^rd. There, she discussed her new book which tells the story of the Goodenough family – first in 1838 in the Black Swamp of Ohio.  That miserable place is described in alternating chapters by husband and wife, James and Sadie.  He is obsessed with fruit trees, planting samplings supplied by Johnny Appleseed Chapman and teaching his son, Robert, how to graft Golden Pippins, a family favorite originally brought all the way from England.  Sadie, in contrast, is a sad, lonely and frustrated woman often drunk on the applejack and hard cider they make.  She relies on her young daughters to cook, clean and maintain some semblance of family life. Later, At the Edge of the Orchard shifts locale and time to California, just post the Gold Rush.  It is there that son Robert has travelled and where he now works as a tree agent. 

I found the story to be a bit slow and the setting and characters not very likeable, but Chevalier does a masterful job of conveying the difficulties and uncertainties of pioneer life. While I honestly enjoyed Chevalier’s earlier works more (including The Girl with a Pearl Earring and Remarkable Creatures), At the Edge of the Orchard received a starred review from Library Journal.