Elf Dog and Owl Head

February 15, 2023
Grades 3-6 Anderson positions his breezy new fantasy in the present primarily through the pervasive presence of "the sickness," which has citizens living in boredom-generating quarantine. Online school is a joke and a summer without friends isn't looking much better--and family time lost its luster ages ago. But when Clay stumbles upon a lost dog--sleek and white, except for the bright red interior of her ears--everything begins to change. Clay instinctively knows that she is a royal elf-hound. What he doesn't know is that she belongs to the unpleasant People Under the Mountain and is trained to hunt all manner of monsters. With Elphinore the elf-hound by his side, Clay's summer becomes one of wonder, as she is able to follow paths invisible to the human eye. This is how he becomes friends with an owl-headed boy named Amos and very nearly gets his family cursed. This playful romp pulls magic into the mundane and gives regular kids the chance to be heroes while Wu's cross-hatched pencil illustrations dust the proceedings with further enchantment.

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Starred review from February 20, 2023
Wandering the mystical forest behind his house on Mount Norumbega offers Clay O’Brian an escape from being stuck at home with his family due to a global virus. As Clay attempts to play Frisbee solo in the woods, he encounters an elegant white elf hound with a bejeweled collar who’s been separated from a Royal Hunt. Elphinore, as she is called, is part of an “ancient and dangerous crowd” known as the People Under the Mountain—and when she leads him on a path he’s never seen, Clay beholds extraordinary alternate realms “in different folds of space.” Alongside genteel Amos, an owl-headed boy, he spends the summer exploring such places and anticipating the festivities of Midsummer’s Eve. Meanwhile, older sister DiRossi seethes in her room at the unfairness of spending her 14-year-old summer alone, and, deciding to find out what her brother is up to, has adventures of her own, including an encounter with a similarly misanthropic giant. Revisiting the setting of his Norumbegan Quartet and layering the everyday with intriguing lands and creatures, Anderson expertly balances the anguish of pandemic-era isolation with the transporting joys of new friendships. Stylized b&w pencil art from Wu punctuate this wryly told fantasy. Human characters default to white. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: David McCormick Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Agency.

March 1, 2023
Clay and his family are suffering the accumulated ­tensions of a "global sickness" shutdown. Online school, isolation from friends, financial worries, too much togetherness -- Clay needs escape, and he gets it via a charming elf-hound who has wandered up from the fairy Kingdom Under the Mountain. The dog also gives Clay access to a new friend, Amos, an owl-headed boy who inhabits a different parallel world that resembles a Puritan village. Once these worlds start to leak into one another, chaos is loosed upon Clay and his family. The tone is largely cartoonish, as set pieces of hilarious slapstick involve, for example, an out-of-control wool sweater that reverse-evolves into its original sheep. It's a veritable plum pudding of energetic action and witty delights, but a ­foundation of traditional folklore elements -- standing stones, half-buried sleeping giants, fairy mischief, portals to the underworld, the Wild Hunt, and predatory wyrms -- creates an underlying hint of genuine menace. One of the guests at the big Midsummer's Eve supernatural shindig is Death ("When he calls, we must go. But knowing that the night may be cut short is what makes it so sweet"). Balancing this chill is the devoted relationship between Clay and his dog companion, a theme that stands sturdily in the middle of the mayhem. Black-and-white full-page pencil illustrations contribute to both coziness and eeriness. Sarah Ellis

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 1, 2023
Some 10-plus years after concluding his Norumbegan Quartet, Anderson again explores the weird and wonderful magic of rural New England in this stand-alone work for middle graders. In fact, it is on Mount Norumbega that Clay O'Brian meets Elphinore, a young elf-hound whose curiosity separates her from the Hunt. Elphinore becomes a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy time for Clay and his family, as a "worldwide sickness" has shut down school and looms dismally over the summer. But during forest rambles, Elphinore takes Clay and, ultimately, his sisters along "the paths that led through crooked, elfin ways." This is how Clay befriends Amos, a boy with an owl's head whose people speak in Hawthorne-esque dialogue, and how older sister DiRossi meets Vud, an ancient giant whose determination to be miserable matches her own 14-year-old angst. Writing with his characteristic precision, Anderson melds the fantastic with the everyday to often riotous effect while also gently schooling Clay and readers in cross-cultural communication. It all comes to a thrilling climax on Midsummer's Eve before a bittersweet, perfectly pitched denouement. Wu's lovely, textured pencil drawings add eldritch warmth. The full-page illustrations, including some double-page spreads, are interspersed throughout the book, contributing to the sense of wonder. Characters read White. A hilarious, heartfelt triumph. (Fantasy. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2023
Clay and his family are suffering the accumulated tensions of a "global sickness" shutdown. Online school, isolation from friends, financial worries, too much togetherness -- Clay needs escape, and he gets it via a charming elf-hound who has wandered up from the fairy Kingdom Under the Mountain. The dog also gives Clay access to a new friend, Amos, an owl-headed boy who inhabits a different parallel world that resembles a Puritan village. Once these worlds start to leak into one another, chaos is loosed upon Clay and his family. The tone is largely cartoonish, as set pieces of hilarious slapstick involve, for example, an out-of-control wool sweater that reverse-evolves into its original sheep. It's a veritable plum pudding of energetic action and witty delights, but a foundation of traditional folklore elements -- standing stones, half-buried sleeping giants, fairy mischief, portals to the underworld, the Wild Hunt, and predatory wyrms -- creates an underlying hint of genuine menace. One of the guests at the big Midsummer's Eve supernatural shindig is Death ("When he calls, we must go. But knowing that the night may be cut short is what makes it so sweet"). Balancing this chill is the devoted relationship between Clay and his dog companion, a theme that stands sturdily in the middle of the mayhem. Black-and-white full-page pencil illustrations contribute to both coziness and eeriness.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from November 24, 2023

Gr 3-5-Anderson brings to life the magical world found in Mount Norumbega, in this stand-alone novel. Clay O'Brian is tired of the virus that has forced him to stay home away from friends and enjoys the time he spends in the wilderness exploring. When elf-dog Elphinore is locked out from her home beneath the mountain, she comes across Clay in the woods and their adventures together begin. Elphinore is the reason Clay befriends an owl-headed boy named Amos, while Clay's older sister DiRossi forms an unlikely friendship with a sad, blue giant named Vud. At the Midsummer Night Festival, when the magical worlds intertwine, the newfound friends will discover whether their bond can withstand strict, fantastical rules. Wu's illustrations throughout are black-and-white pencil, which adds to the otherworldly quality of the plot. While the story has magical lands and creatures, the backdrop of the COVID-19 shutdown grounds the action in something relatable. The O'Brian family's stress about becoming ill, paying bills, and finding work allows room to explore the trauma of the pandemic. At times, the world-building is underdeveloped, but the engrossing presentation of the different worlds will draw readers in. Other than Anderson's companion series, "Norumbegan Quartet," comparable titles include Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black's "Spiderwick Chronicles" and The Demon Sword Asperides by Sarah Jean Horwitz. VERDICT A stellar novel with read-aloud potential, this whimsically imaginative adventure will thrill those who want magic mixed with reality.-Hilary Tufo

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