Beyond the Deepwoods – Book One The Edge Chronicles
Posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
by Paul Stewart; illustrations Chris Riddell
Twig, is a young boy brought up by woodtrolls. He is constantly teased and doesn’t fit in with any of the creatures of the Deepwoods. When his family realizes that the Sky Pirates are after him for some reason, he is sent away to distant cousins on the far side of the woods.
When he rescues a young Slaughterer from exploding he is welcomed into their tribe of strange red-headed creatures that sleep at night.
On his journey he also encounters a people-eating tree, a hovering snake and many strange dangerous things.
He falls into a Gyle-Goblin colony that lives underground very much like ants and gets in trouble when he falls into the sweet honey liquid they eat.
He removes a rotten tooth from a Banderbear and they become good friends. But trouble soon begins when he is picked up by a nasty bird-like creature called a Rotsucker.
A young termagant trog girl takes him on as a pet but wants to kill him after she transforms into a huge bloated beast. He has more mishaps and close calls by the time he meets the Sky Pirates and finds out that where he really belongs.
Crazy, fun and different creatures, provide lots of page turning action. With wonderful illustrations of the creatures and lands of this fantasy drawn in great detail by Chris Riddell, the story comes alive.
For good readers in Grade 4, and should appeal to boys and girls in grades 5, 6, 7.
Anxious to read more in the series. Check out two awesome websites with information on the other books, a look at the creatures, maps of the fantasy world, trivia and games