If you like the Decemberists, you'll love this book

From the inside flap (yes, I know, that's cheating): Colin Meloy once wrote in a letter to Ray Bradbury that he "considered himself an author too." He was ten. Prior to writing Wildwood, his first novel, Meloy channeled his creative energy into writing weird songs for the Portland-based rock group the Decemberists.

For those of you who are familiar with the band, all I need to say to convince you to read Wildwood is that it is written by Colin Meloy and if you like the band, you will love the book.


For those of you who are not yet familiar with the band, here is a sample:

"And the Andalusian tribes
setting the lay of Nebraska alight
'Til all that remains is the arms of the angels"

And another (just in case you are not yet convinced).

Meloy's first venture into prose fiction will not disappoint any of you who appreciates the intelligent, quirky sense of humor evident in these videos.  Wildwood is the story of Prue, a twelve-year-old Portland girl who ventures into Portland's Impassable Wilderness in search of her younger brother, who has been kidnapped by a murder of crows. With the begrudgingly-accepted help of her classmate Curtis, she ventures into the supposedly uninhabited ancient forest, only to be caught up in a much wider series of events as the wood's various hidden civilizations struggle for their very survival.