Wildwood (2011)

Wildwood is a 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. Inspired by classic fantasy novels and folk tales, the book is about two seventh-graders who are drawn into a hidden, magical forest, while trying to rescue a baby kidnapped by crows. They get caught up in an epic struggle and learn of their connection to a magical parallel world while confronting adult authorities who are often cowardly or dishonest. The natural beauty and local color of Portland, Oregon, feature prominently in the book.

Ellis collaborated closely with Meloy throughout the writing phase to produce 85 illustrations, which, along with the old-fashioned book design, were particularly praised by reviewers. The majority of reviews were positive, on balance, saying the book was an engrossing story appropriate for its target age, but they also noted that the plot sometimes dragged, that familiar fantasy motifs were sometimes overused, and that stereotypical Portland culture was a little overplayed. Wildwood was on the New York Times Best Seller list of Children's Chapter Books for two weeks and tied for the 2012 E. B. White Read Aloud Award.

A film adaptation of the book, directed by Travis Knight, premiered on October 11, 2026.

Plot

Part One

Prue is in a park with her baby brother Mac when a murder of crows swoops down and carries him away. Prue runs after him (followed by her classmate Curtis, unbeknownst to her), and sees the crows carry Mac into the mysterious Impassable Wilderness. Prue goes home to her parents and manages to make it look like she still has Mac by bundling up a blanket. The next morning, she heads for the Wilderness but discovers Curtis has once more followed her. Prue does not want Curtis along, but before she can send him back, they are separated while fleeing from coyote soldiers. Curtis is captured and taken to Alexandra, the Dowager Governess (the leader of the coyotes), while Prue rides a mail truck to South Wood. There, Prue finds a Kafkaesque bureaucracy and dysfunctional government. Police state tactics and paranoia over foreign threats are used to keep the regime in power. Prue eventually meets the Crown Prince Owl Rex of the Avian Principality, who tells her how Alexandra came to be exiled shortly before he himself is arrested.

Alexandra's son Alexei died in a horse-riding accident, and her husband Grigor died of heartbreak; to remedy his death, Alexandra hired the two greatest toymakers in all of Wildwood to fashion her son a new body that was later brought to life by recalling his soul via black magic. Later Alexei learned the truth of his death and rebirth and purposefully destroyed a crucial part of his inner workings, resulting in his second death. Alexandra was exiled for the use of black magic and plotted her revenge. Owl Rex proposes that Prue cross Wildwood and find help from the mystics of North Wood. Meanwhile, Alexandra is flattering Curtis with a fancy uniform and commissions him into the coyote army as an officer. In a battle against bandits, Curtis breaks a howitzer by dumb luck, becoming a coyote war hero in the operation. He then finds Mac in Alexandra's headquarters. Alexandra divulges her plan to sacrifice the baby to the magical ivy of the Wood, which will allow the ivy to rapidly consume the Wood and its inhabitants. Alexandra offers to share the power with Curtis, but he refuses and is locked away in a cage with some other captured bandits and unfaithful coyotes.

Part Two

Prue flies to North Wood on the back of an eagle sent by Owl Rex but is shot down by a coyote archer. She is found by Brendan, the King of the Bandits, who offers to help. However, they are captured in a coyote attack and Brendan is imprisoned with Curtis while Prue is taken to Alexandra. Alexandra promises her that she will find Mac, convincing Prue to leave the Woods. In prison, Curtis reveals Alexandra's plan and then leads an escape, earning the trust of the coyote and bandit prisoners. Prue returns home, where she learns from her parents that they were only able to conceive Prue and Mac because they had made a deal with Alexandra to use her magic, but that Alexandra's price was the second child that Prue's mother bore. Realizing that she has been tricked, Prue returns to Wildwood to rescue Mac.

Part Three

Back in the Impassable Wilderness, Prue travels to see the mystics in charge of North Wood. Meanwhile, Curtis and the other escapees rejoin the bandits and set out to stop Alexandra. Prue alerts the elder mystic, Iphigenia, and the citizen militia gather weapons and march south. Prue rides her bicycle ahead and convinces the bandits to join forces. Just as the sacrifice is about to occur, the armies meet in an ivy-filled ruin. Brendan gives a speech to inspire his forces, christening the combined army the Wildwood Irregulars.

The Battle for the Plinth ensues, and the Wildwood Irregulars are near defeat. As Alexandra prepares to carry out the sacrifice, Iphigenia confronts her. Curtis and the remnants of the army make a final push, expecting to be cut down when above them the sky is filled with an army of eagles and other birds from the Avians. The battle turns against the coyote army, but Prue discovers that she can control plants the way the mystics can and uses her new skill to make the tree boughs snatch Mac from Alexandra. Brendan shoots Alexandra with an arrow and the ivy consumes her. Brendan is now in command of the ivy and is told by Iphigenia to make it sleep, and he does so. The victorious Wildwood Irregulars regroup and press on to the gates of South Wood and demand that the corrupt government resign. As a new, peaceful order begins among the factions of The Wood, Prue and Curtis part ways as new friends: she goes home with Mac while Curtis remains behind to start a new life as a bandit.