Under Wildwood

Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy, 559 pages

Under Wildwood is the second book in Meloy's Wildwood trilogy, and finds the first book's protagonists, Prue and Curtis, back in the Impassable Wilderness, once again attempting to thwart an evil takeover of the people of the woods. At the same time, Curtis's sisters, Elsie and Rachel, have been temporarily put in an orphanage while their parents hunt for their missing brother. But the orphanage is not at all what it seems, and Elsie and Rachel soon find themselves in their own fight against a power-hungry titan of industry.

This book, and the series as a whole, is a hipster kid's dream. It's set in Portland, Oregon (which is a pretty hipster-y location to begin with), and has plenty of talking animals wearing military coats complete with epaulets. In fact, at times the tale veers a bit too far into the land of hipsters--you know you've gone too far when even the villain has the A Prairie Home Companion joke-a-day calendar--but considering that the author is the lead singer of hipster-friendly band The Decemberists, that's probably to be expected. That said, Meloy does create a compelling story with plenty of fun twists and enjoyable characters, even if a few of his literary allusions are a bit too on-the-nose. Oh, and the illustrations (done by acclaimed artist Carson Ellis) are fantastic, and set off the story perfectly.

Recommended for kids with an off-beat sense of adventure and fans of the Pacific Northwest and all of its quirks.