This simply written fantasy with a touch of magical realism has a powerful message of preserving the environment. I will be recommending this to upper elementary teachers to use when teaching theme and author’s message. Middle school literacy interventionists will also love using this book with their students. There is much to infer and notice. The parallels to the way we treat our environment can’t be missed. Katherine Applegate has done it again!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a awesome book about one lonely girl and the animal no one else loves being hunted to almost extinction and the changes that makes in nature and how it almost ruins a town.

We all know that everything in nature for the most part has a job and if the job isn't done it can totally throw off the balance of everything around it. This is that story but filled with love and caring from a girl that seemingly has lost hope and finds this hard to deal out. Mrs. Applegate has another wonderful hit on her hands that will appeal to readers of all ages and abilities. This would also make a great classroom read for younger students. I hope you give this book a chance I think you will find it as awesome as I do.

This review will appear on my blog on Sept. 7th

Willodeen is wise beyond her years. At eleven years old she sees the importance of balance in nature, as well as the beauty. Willodeen is no stranger to loss which leads her to isolate herself and keep her distance even from those she loves. Her classroom is the forest around where she lives. She spends her time observing, noticing and learning from the trees and the creatures that make up the forest. Willodeen has a soft spot for the screechers, which most of the rest of the village see as pests, so much so that there aren't many around. How will Willodeen get her community to see the importance of balance, that a pest is just as necessary as something viewed as beautiful while opening her heart at the same time?
Author Katherine Applegate has done it yet again! She has the amazing talent and ability to take important and relevant issues and make them accessible to young readers. The beauty of her words will touch your heart in ways you can't imagine and you will find yourself smiling through your tears.

I'm happy to write that Katherine Applegate's stories are always terrific and I loved this new one. It was a gift to have the advanced copy from Net Galley!
Dear Willowdeen, about to turn eleven, has had tragedy in her life; wildfires took her home, parents, and brother. Luckily she was taken in and nursed back to health by two women in the small town where they live, Perchance. She is a lover of nature and wanders the woods, especially the blue willow trees, for glimpses of the most unlovable creatures there, the screechers. Loud with note-worthy scents, they have had bounties put on them, something Willowdeen hates and eventually fights. A surprise meeting with a young boy named Connor who creates a gift for Willowdeen's birthday becomes the magic she uses to figure out why no Hummingbears have returned to Perchance. Those special creatures are an annual fair's tourist draw for people's livelihood for the rest of the year. The town's fires and drought, the possibility of no fair creates a problem for all to solve, yet this "youngster's" voice, so little heard before, speaks up to help. She struggles to find answers, something to admire for that quest. Learning about friendship and love also adds to Willowdeen's journey in poignant scenes. For those who love the earth and need to continue learning about it in order to better keep it safe, this is a book that will inspire all to pay attention.

This was just the right amount of the adorable and fantastic mixed with real-life scenarios kids can instantly relate to - feelings of not fitting in, of being different from everyone else, and in some cases, missing your family and not being sure entirely of where you belong.

Willodeen has been alone ever since her family perished in a fire, and tbh, she likes it that way - or thinks she does. She is interested in researching wildlife, even wildlife that others might find "monstrous," and wholeheartedly buys into her father's saying that nature knows better than we do what's needed. However, most of the town thinks she's crazy for being so interested in the stinky, disgusting, loud Screechers, and are not concerned whatsoever with their gradual disappearance.

However, when the town is facing a crisis due to missing out on their main income, tourism from the hummingbear festival, it's Willodeen who can show them that nature truly does know what it needs - and we can all exist together.

In turns funny and heartbreaking, with the perfect amount of cute and fantastic creatures thrown in - this book is a great read even for adults!

Another fantastic book by Katherine Applegate! This book is about Willodeen who has had a lot of tragedy happen in her young life. After losing her family, she is taken in by two women who love and care for her in a community who doesn't support her inquisitive nature and her choice to be alone. When her community's nature festival (and main source of income) is threatened, Willodeen uses her inquiry skills to figure out what's happening. This is a wonderful middle grade book about resilience and the power of young people.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Excellent story about a parent teaching empathy to their child.

Beautiful language. I enjoyed the novel and thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted copy.

I love everything Katherine Applegate writes. Willodeen is no exception there. It was so cute and imaginative. Willodeen loves all animals even the town nuisance the screechers who smell awful. When a handmade gift from her friend Connor magically becomes living, she will have to protect it and help her town realize that nature and humans have to live together to survive. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC of this wonderful book. 4 stars

What a wonderful whimsical story! This is just the book I have been looking for! It will go perfectly with my unit on animal life cycles. Absolutely delightful! Read in one sitting! 5 stars!

What an amazing new story from Katherine Applegate. Young Willodeen has always been a lover of nature and all creatures, even those considered unloveable by others. So of course she’s concerned when the “Screechers” begin to disappear from the woods surrounding her small village. One by one, they’re gone. And then one day, a new little creature appears. With it come lessons for everyone on what it means to coexist peacefully and cooperatively. Such a wonderful book that I can’t wait to read to my second graders!

Oh what a glorious twist that I did not see coming! Charming and magical and poignant are the words that come to mind when I think back on this story. “Willodeen” would make a wonderful read aloud and would be great in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations.

I wish with all my heart that hummingbears were real. This book was a real treat, one that will stick in my memory for a long time.

Once again, Katherine Applegate pulls at your heart in her latest novel, Willodeen. The title character is a young girl whose life was upended when her parents and sibling were killed in a fire that tore through their village. Now living with two kind women, she explores the woods and mostly keeps to herself, preferring the company of animals such as the vilified screechers (think appearance of a warthog, smell of a skunk) and an injured hummingbear (exactly what it sounds like) to humans.

The town relies on the money brought in from tourist traffic during the hummingbears’ annual migration, but there have been less and less hummingbears as of late. There have been more fires, though. In fact, nature is out of balance. Can Willodeen and her new friend, Connor, solve the hummingbear mystery before it is too late?

Applegate writes beautiful characters in this winning tale about nature’s balance and learning to open one’s heart. My only complaint is that the storytelling is a bit heavy handed. Middle graders are intelligent! There isn’t a need to spell everything out for them and hit them over the head with the message. However, this is a small complaint. I will be recommending it enthusiastically to readers.

What a wonderful book! My 8-year old and I read this book together and we both loved it. The characters were relatable and the plot was realistic but also fun. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has a 3rd-5th grader and I would encourage teachers to add this book to their classroom library. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a copy of Willodeen in exchange for my opinion.

’For Mother Earth. Thanks for putting up with us.’

’I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.’- Greta Thunberg

’...and a little child shall lead them’ -Isaiah 11:6

This begins as a “Once upon a time” story, a story of magic, our planet, and a child - or two, that may be young, but who are more in tune with the magic in our world. They hope to protect it from those who, in the name of progress, are slowly destroying everything that makes life worth living, the magic of life, beauty, and wonder.

Willodeen was orphaned as a young child, a wildfire took the lives of her brother and her parents. She lives with Mae and Birdie, who offer her love and a home, in the woods where she loves to roam, trying to find the elusive screechers, whose lives have become endangered due to a bounty that was placed on them by the village, who wants to be rid of them. Their repulsive smell and their foul nature makes them a target, but Willodeen was raised by her Pa to love all creatures, and she remembers his words. They would be some of the last words he shared with her, as the fire that took her family would soon follow.

As the screecher population has dwindled drastically, so has the population of the beloved hummingbears, much to the chagrin of the townspeople, as they have been a huge inducement. A much loved attraction to the many tourists that come to their small town of Perchance annually for the Autumn Faire.

After a while, Connor, a young boy befriends her, a friendship she is reluctant to accept at first. She’s a loner, doesn’t trust easily, and has no friends since she doesn’t attend school. But slowly, over time, Connor shows her that he will not betray her trust, gifting her on her birthday with a small, handmade animal, which seems almost real. Soon after, it comes to life as if by magic. Together, these two, through a different kind of magic, convincingly share their wisdom of the balance that Nature and our planet requires.


Pub Date: 07 Sep 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Feiwel & Friends

A bit of a misfit Willodeen feels closer to the creatures around her like her hummingbear than other kids. She, like others have been taught to fear the screechers who terrorize the village and woods. That changes when she makes contact with a baby screecher and learns how they are a vital part of the fragile ecosystem. Part warning about messing up the planet, part finding your voice, part friendship and all magic. This story will resonate with earth lovers, animal lovers and numerous Katherine Applegate fans. Once again the author implores us to listen to the quiet voice instead of the angry outburst and to look for the magic that is right in front of us. On a side note, my Animorph animal would be a hummingbear. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I received an advance copy of, Willodeen by, Katherine Applegate. This is a cute book about nature and animals for children. The illustrations are really good,

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book! Willodeen is a beautiful story of hope, love and friendship. This books tugs at your heartstrings both for the main character, Willodeen, and for the animals that we meet in her world. I loved the description of these hybrid animals and wish some of them existed in real life! Willodeen is a lovable girl who goes on a quest to save an unlovable beast. She finds beauty in the most unexpected places and she helps the reader fall in love with these characters and places, too. A wonderful, quick read that I cannot wait to introduce to my students!

Willodeen is an inspiring character in Katherine Applegate's latest children's novel. The fantasy of peacock snails, dilly bugs, dibby ducks, humming bears, and my favorite animal a screecher. You see Willodeen loves the unlovable strange animals and she felt the scarier or uglier the better. She lives in a village of Perchance that is home to various animals and beasts. Or they just seem to be beasts to the villagers. Willodeen survives unbearable heartache at a young age and continues to find the truth in her father's saying, "Nature knows more than we do." Mae and Birdie are her constant support system along with Duuzuu, her pet tiny hummingbear that was injured in the same fire that Willodeen survived.
The Village or Perchance hosts a yearly festival called Autumn Faire, that has visitors from all over to the little village. What draws these visitors is the hummingbears and the magical bubbles they would create. Problem is, the hummingbears are not returning to Perchance as they did in the past. The villagers are concerned about what could possibly be keeping the hummingbears away. Willodeen and her friend, Conor may have the answer, but will the adults and villagers listen?
I adored this story about healing and opening your mind to nurture your environment and yourself. Applegate created another delight of a story, I found myself reading the story in a day to feed my curiosity of the screechers and Willodeen's adventures. It was a heartfelt read that will open your hearts and mind to the possibility of each action has a chain reaction in your environment. Willodeen is highly recommended for young readers and adults wanting to have a delightful story.
Thank you, Katherine Applegate and Feiwel & Friends publisher for an endearing read.

What an inspiring and uplifting story about creativity, love, and journey. This is a great story full of strong characters and great representation. I adored how Applegate is able to weave such raw emotion and feeling with whimsy and wit. Loved this.