Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I saw that Svetlana Chmakova’s newest graphic novel–The Weirn Books, Vol. 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods–was a night creature sort of fantasy instead of a Berrybrook Middle School installment, I was surprised, disappointed (I do love the Berrybrook Middle School books!), and somewhat intrigued. Was it going to be like the Berrybrook books, except with magic? Was it going to be creepy (because it looked kind of creepy!)? Would I enjoy it as much as her realistic fiction? How about my girls?

The answers to those questions, respectively, are–sort of, sort of, yes, and it seems like it. (Conclusive, right?!) The world is certainly different, but so much about middle school age kids is universal; it felt really creepy at the beginning, ended up being less creepy than it seemed like it was going to be, but is still a certain level of creepy; it’s character-driven, adventurous, and universal enough to be just as enjoyable; and as for my girls? Well, one kept re-reading it until I told her I was TAKING IT BACK, and the other complained that “You could have told me it came out THIS YEAR and ended in a CLIFFHANGER!” (To which her sister replied that she didn’t think it was a cliffhanger. It was kind of a weird conversation.)

At the end of the day, this is a story about a mysterious house in the Silent Woods, a group of teenage friends (that could–minus the magic–be at my daughter’s school) who end up discovering why the woods are silent and find themselves in an epic battle with a disturbingly proper-looking villain, and–family. (In all its forms.) Given that my re-reading daughter doesn’t usually like fantasy (she bailed on Harry Potter partway into the second book), I’d say Be Wary of the Silent Woods should be a hit.