Willodeen - Katherine Applegate - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Katherine Applegate
ILLUSTRATOR: Charles Santoso
GENRE: Middle-grade Fantasy
PUBLICATION DATE: May 11, 2023
RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A beautiful middle-grade fantasy with a strong environment-oriented theme that shows the interconnection of nature and the lack of awareness in humans. Great protagonist, wonderful animals, strong themes about nature. Much recommended!


Plot Preview:
Eleven-year-old Willodeen loves all animals, but her favourites are the beasts hated by everyone else. Known as “screechers”, these beasts are considered pests by the village of Perchance, and there is even a bounty for those who kill them.
Lately, Perchance has been struck by several natural disasters such as forest fires and droughts. But the biggest loss to them has come from the loss of tourist revenue after the famed hummingbears stopped migrating to the village.
Willodeen, along with her friend Connor, are keen to investigate why hummingbears are no longer interested in Perchance, and also to save screechers from extinction. Will the duo succeed in their goals?
The story comes to us mostly from Willodeen’s first person perspective.


Bookish Yays:
🐻 “The earth is old and we are not, and that is all you must remember...” – the first line of the blurb, and also a line in the first chapter. Worth remembering by all!

🐻 Willodeen – shy, sweet, determined, clever, animal-lover. A wonderful protagonist!

🐻 The friendship between Willodeen and Connor – mutually supportive and mutually beneficial.

🐻 Birdie and Mae, the two old ladies who take care of Willodeen after she is orphaned – quirky and loveable, just as fictional old ladies should be. 😉

🐻 The screechers and the hummingbears (one of each is seen on the cover): fantastic (in both its meanings)! Loved how these imaginative beings enhance the story.

🐻 The message about the symbiotic interconnection across all creatures, including humans. Also appreciate the focus on human cruelty towards animals, the thoughtless destruction of wild habitats, and the resulting endangerment of innocent creatures, especially those who “are ugly”. Kids will hopefully learn not to judge by appearance and how every individual action affects all of us.

🐻 The chapter interludes from the screecher’s point of view, written in first person – amazingly genuine in sound!

🐻 Some lovely B&W illustrations peppered throughout.


Bookish If Onlys:
🐗 I wish there had been more of the magic. The setting is clearly fantastical, so to have only one scene where something magical happened is disappointing, even though the scene was amazing.

🐗 If only the book had some other title, or a modified cover design! Keeping in mind this author’s other works such as ‘the One and Only Ivan’, ‘Crenshaw’, and ’Odder’, I had assumed all this time that Willodeen would be the boar-like creature on the cover. To see that the book is named after its young human protagonist was a surprise, especially as the title and the cover then don’t work in harmony.


In short, no major complaints. I loved almost every bit of this story and would want every middle-grader to pick this beautiful story and understand how we are all in this together. It goes at a slower pace than usual MG fiction, so keep that in mind if pace is an important factor in your (or your child’s) book choices.

Heartily recommended! Check out the triggers though. They might be a bit too severe for some children.

My thanks to Welbeck Publishing UK and NetGalley for the DRC of “Willodeen”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Content warning: parental death, fire, animal shooting.

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