Wing & Claw #1: Forest of Wonders

My daughter and I read this together as a read aloud. I caught her up reading ahead in the night because she had to know what happened next. We definitely recommend this trilogy.

Linda Sue Park has been writing wonderful books for a long time and this one will rank among her best. Forest of Wonders is a fabulous mix of fantasy, magic, and adventure. Main character Raffa is a gifted apothecary who is far exceeding his father's skill due to a heavy dose of magical ability that is only beginning to develop. That bit of magic leads him to major mishaps as well as opens doors to opportunity the likes of which his poor family has never seen. Along the way, Raffa makes, loses and refinds friends and friendships and they all work together to save the creatures of the Forest of Wonders that he loves. This librarian would highly recommend the Wing & Claw series to readers of fantasy in grades 4-8, although the length and reading level may be off-putting for the younger in that group.

He loved to read about the adventures of Rafa.

Good book

The bat Echo is a main character along with 2 boys and 2 girls. They are teenagers who are making choices about how they want to live. How they wish to treat their animal friends. There are good folks and awful ones. The two side become thrown into an epic battle which at the end of this book you need to read the next book to find out how it will end. I choose to read on!

Linda Sue Park is an exceptionally good writer, and the bat Echo is now one of my favorite kidlit characters.

The book moves quickly, and the boy protagonist is easy to identify with. His talking bat adds a nice touch, but after a bit there are just too many humanized animals to allow for much development of the human characters. Overall the book was fun but too obviously a teaser for additional books in the series.

not as great as Linda Sue park's other books

What a gripping read, just didn't want it to end. Absolutely fabulous, for young or old alike. I can only hope there's a second book.

Read for book club with grade 5/6 boys. A hit with them and me. Really engaging storyline and characters.