Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree - Daniel Dockery - ★★

AUTHOR: Daniel Dockery

GENRE: YA Adventure. (Officially, it is marked as Children's Fiction. I disagree.)

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: An adventure story featuring a fifteen year old who can do anything and everything. Mixed feelings from this parent. But might work better for teens as they’ll identify better with the over-smart protagonist.

Story Synopsis:

1920. Fifteen-year-old Wendington Jones’s world turns haywire when she hears that her adventurer-explorer mother has died in a car crash. Having already lost her father a few years back, Wendington is now left in the care of her grandmother.

When she receives a parcel in the middle of one night, she is surprised to find that it is from her late mother, and contains half a manuscript about a mythical ‘Tree of Life’ that supposedly has regenerative powers. Wendington, in her intrepid style, seeks the other half of the manuscript, but soon realises that there are more people looking for the same information. Escaping from the dangers, Wendington finds herself alone and almost penniless on a ship to Australia, attempting to locate the elusive tree. Will she be successful before the other parties catch up with her?

The story is written in the limited third person perspective of Wendington.

Bookish Yays:

👌 The target audience will probably like Wendington as she handles things so much better than the adults in her life.

👌 Percival the newt, Wendington’s trusty amphibian sidekick who gets pulled into her adventure at no fault of his, is a fun addition to the cast of characters. The poor fellow does the best he can in every scene.

👌 The ending is somewhat bittersweet and works well for the story. It is actually the only good part of the story.

👌 I mostly liked the presence of the Indian character, though some parts of his track were quite unbelievable. (His sister ran the successful family business? In the UK? In 1920? C’mon!)

Bookish Nays:

💀 There are two kinds of children’s adventure books: one where the child has no choice but to do everything on their own (as in the recent MG adventure book I read: “Lost on Gibbon Island”, which was brilliant), and one where the child simply does everything on their own, disregarding the possible alternative solution that involves taking help from the adults around. This book falls in the second category. I might have gone ga-ga over this book in my teens, but as an adult, I will always point this feature as a negative in children’s fiction as it puts incorrect ideas in kids’ heads. Being brave and being foolhardy aren’t the same thing, and asking for help doesn’t make you weak.

💀 On that note, despite what the cover suggests and what the genre category on NetGalley declares, this should not be classified as children’s or middle-grade fiction for various reasons.

1. The protagonist is in her mid-teens, so this technically comes in the YA age group.

2. There are details of a first kiss. (I can picture my tween going “Ewwww!” at that scene and then bursting into giggles.)

3. There are scenes that might be scary for children. People shooting bullets that end up “shattering the kneecap” of one character and hitting another squarely in the chest? In a kid’s book? No, thank you!

💀 During the course of the story, Wendington passes judgement on quite a few people (including her own mother) for lying, not considering the feelings of others, not thinking about the long-term repercussions of a decision, being selfish, hiding true intentions, too much of secret-keeping, and so on. Guess what Wendington does throughout the book? *Sigh.*

💀 There are inconsistencies about Wendington’s character detailing as well. She is said to have an impressive height, and yet she can’t even reach the brake pedal of a car. Moreover, except for the first chapter where she speaks to her best friend, the rest of the book has her speaking mostly to adults. Yet, none of the adults speak with her as they would to a teen. Their tone of voice and manner of speaking is as if she is an adult herself. Not one of the ship staff, whom Wendington endears herself to by being a pro at engines *eye roll*, bothers to find out why a young girl’s mother never steps out of her cabin.

💀 Speaking of inconsistencies, let me not get started on all the adventures that take place on the ship, specifically in the engine room and the boiler room. As the wife of a ship superintendent, I know the dangers in both these places, and also the noise and temperature involved. You expect me to believe that a privileged girl who knows engines mainly through theory can expertly identify the engine problems of a huge passenger liner at the snap of a finger? Moreover, no engine crew (especially a hundred years ago) would have allowed a young girl in the engine room. I won’t venture into the anomalies depicted in the functionality of lifeboats, because that will need a separate full-length rant.

💀 There are several arcs left incomplete at the end. The quest for the mythical tree involved several characters. What in the world happened to them?

I know this wasn’t a book written for my age group, and I tried my best to see some positives in it. But given a choice, this is not a book I would purchase for my kids. In many ways, it is typical YA fiction – having flat characters and a one-note story and farfetched situations. (I must remind you that I have no fondness anymore for the YA-NA genre.) I might have liked this better had it been a genuine middle-grade story with a more believable and endearing protagonist.

In short, it’s a no from me. But do keep in mind that mine is the only 2 star review so far. Others have enjoyed the book far better, so do go through those reviews to take a more informed call.

My thanks to UCLan Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.