Shelly's Book Blog

I'm always looking for good books that have a reading level of 6th grade or higher, so when I found The Dark Hills Divide, by Parick Carman (RL 6.1, 10 points in AR), I gave it to my son to read. The Dark Hills Divide is the first of The Land of Elyon series, which has 5 titles. Both my son and I enjoyed the book very much. This fantasy novel is narrated by the heroine, Alexa Daley, and follows her adventures as she leaves the safety of her walled community to try to find out what is outside the city that people are afraid of. During her adventures her small size is a distinct advantage because she has to squeeze through very small passageways and tunnels. She also finds that she is able, with the help of a magic stone she finds in a stream, to talk with the animals in the forest, including a huge grizzy bear named Ander, a wolf named Darius, and a hyperactive squirrel named Murphy.
This is one of those stories where the small child plays a very important role in the affairs of her community, and it seems to me that this is almost always appealing to children because too often in real life kids feel pretty small and powerless. The end of this first book was satisfying (no cliffhanger ending) yet I was still left with an appetite for more about this world. This is a great series for both boys and girls who enjoy fantasy and adventure.