THE FARAWAY FOREST

A young protagonist wanders into a forest where the trees apparently have opinions and the mushroom circles apparently lead somewhere, and spends the book finding out how much of that magic is real and how much courage it's going to take to deal with it either way. The catalog lists this one for ages 12 to 18, but the story itself reads more like classic middle-grade fantasy — a curious kid, talking animals, a forest that's wondrous more than threatening — so it's worth handing to a younger reader in that range who still wants magical woods and a cast of animal characters over grittier fare.

The environmental thread running underneath the adventure — how connected everything in this forest actually is — never turns into a lecture, which is a hard balance for a book like this to strike and one it manages by keeping the wonder in front and the message quietly behind it. The protagonist's own uncertainty about whether they're brave enough for what the forest asks of them gives kids something to relate to underneath the mushroom circles and talking animals. It's the kind of book that sends a kid back outside afterward looking more closely at the nearest patch of trees, which is about the best compliment a forest story can earn.