The Fabled Stables: Willa the Wisp

Written by Jonathan Auxier

Illustrated by Olga Demidova

Puffin Canada

978-0-735267725

96 pp.

Ages 6-9

October 2020

 

Eight-year-old Auggie lives on an island at the top of the world and has a very important job: he tends to the one-of-a-kind creatures that reside in the Fabled Stables. There's the Hippopotomouse, the Gargantula, the Long-Beaked Curmudgeon, the Yawning Abyss, and his friend Fen, a shape-shifting Stick-in-the-Mud, among others.

From Willa the Wisp by Jonathan Auxier, illus. by Olga Demidova

When the stable shakes with a "Boom" and a new stall labelled "Wisp" appears, Fen encourages Auggie to enter the moonlit swamp that stretches out into the stall and help the creature which must be in trouble. Borrowing some thread from the Gargantula's web to help him find his way back, Auggie cautiously enters the dark swamp.

 

Here Auggie discovers three hunters and their hounds pursuing a giggling creature with long ears, big eyes and a body that changes like the mist. She tells Auggie that she was just born that night and the people and their puppies were just playing tag with her. Sadly, she is wrong, and the hunters capture both Willa and Auggie and demand she tell them where her treasure is.

From Willa the Wisp by Jonathan Auxier, illus. by Olga Demidova

Clever Auggie is able to save Willa, though not free her from the fraught iron collar the nasty hunters placed around her neck, and returns with her to the Fabled Stables where he learns from Miss Bundt (there's also a Professor Cake who owns the island) more about the hunters and the dark group to which they belong.

From Willa the Wisp by Jonathan Auxier, illus. by Olga Demidova

Though Jonathan Auxier is better known for his weightier tomes like The Night Gardener and Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster, I think he's found a new niche to which his writing will make a valuable contribution. For readers just on the younger side of middle grade, Willa the Wisp and undoubtedly the series The Fabled Stables will bridge their reading from the picture book genre into more challenging chapter books with its age-appropriate vocabulary and plentiful illustrations from Olga Demidova on every page. But it's really the telling of the story and its illustrated format that makes it such a charm to read. Jonathan Auxier has made Auggie a normal kid in a very unusual job who shows extraordinary compassion while just wanting to be a boy with friends his own age. Beyond the menagerie of remarkable animals and the magic of Auggie's world–you'll like the hanging of a ladder to the moon–Jonathan Auxier has given us a story of a boy and made us feel for him and his noteworthy endeavours.

Willa the Wisp is only the first in the new The Fabled Stables series but its ending leaves us with many questions. Who is Professor Cake and how did he know that Miss Bundt needed to make an extraordinarily long ladder? Who are the Rooks? Are more one-of-a-kind creatures in danger from them? Are the Fabled Stables in danger? Will Auggie ever find a friend his age? With the second book in the series, Trouble with Tattle-Tails, slated for release in May 2021, we may get some answers and definitely more fantastical adventure.

 

Write for a Better World: 2016 Writing Contest for Canadian students in Gr. 5-8

World Literacy Canada

presents its annual

WRITE FOR A BETTER WORLD  

contest

for Canadian students in Grades 5-8

This year, the writing theme was created by  

Jonathan Auxier

(who will also be the final judge)

 author of the award-winning 
The Night Gardener

Puffin

978-0-670-06772-5

384 pp.

Ages 10+

2014
Reviewed here

What to do:
• Using this story starter, tell what happens next in 400 words or less:

People often say that "every person is the hero of their own story." What they don't tell you is that sometimes you are the villain in someone else's story. This is the story of the day I learned that lesson the hard way.

Deadline:
• April 15, 2016


Full Details:
• Details of prizes and the entry form can be found at worldlit.ca/write2016

• World Literacy Canada has a teacher resource for the contest here

The Night Gardener

Written by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin
978-0-670-06772-5
384 pp.
Ages 10+
May, 2014

Something wicked this way comes, and it's Jonathan Auxier's second book, The Night Gardener. Not a story for the faint of heart, it's fortunate that our narrators are the bold Molly and her younger brother Kip who learn all about what goes Thump, Thump, Thump in the night.

At fourteen, Molly is taking care of her crippled, ten-year-old brother whilst their parents are travelling to the New World to make a new life for them after the Irish potato famine drove them from their homeland. A born storyteller, she uses stories to distract, console, explain and protect her brother as they make their way to a posting at the home of Master Bernard Windsor, his wife Mistress Constance, and their children Alistair and Penny. Forewarned by locals of the sour woods and a mysterious family history, the two are still surprised by two ominous circumstances. First, a giant tree adjacent to the manor has breached the house via its trunk, branches and roots. Secondly, based on a large family portrait of the Windsors, it seems all four members of the Windsor family have succumbed to an illness that has paled their skin, dulled their hair and generally weakened them.

While Molly is diligent about taking care of her brother and acting as both sister and parent, she is very observant of the secretive Windsors and their manor. She notices discreet visits by the Master and Mistress through a locked green door, listens to Penny's admissions of a night man who leaves muddy footprints, and deals with her own alarming nightmares. But once Kip witnesses the same night man, Molly investigates the noises, wind and leaves that appear, and the shadows that haunt the house, as terrifying as they are.

She wiped the perspiration from her palm and adjusted her grip on the candlestick. "Master Windsor, is that you?" she said as bravely as she could.
The footsteps stopped.
The wind stopped.
Her heart stopped. (pg. 74) 

The secret of that green-doored room, the night visitor, and the diminishing health of the Windsors and then Molly as well are woven with wishes and dreams and haunting supernatural elements. Jonathan Auxier blends the innocence of the poor and orphaned children (Molly and Kip) with the suspicious activities of the wealthy Windsors to tell a story based on the paradox of being careful what you wish. The Night Gardener is the grim reality of those wishes and Jonathan Auxier's darkly atmospheric writing will lead readers with trepidation into the sour woods and within grasp of the far-reaching tentacles of a frightening entity that exploits wishes. But I suspect that Jonathan Auxier's purpose is not to frighten (though he is very good at that) but to help, just as Molly admits in her differentiation between storytelling and telling lies:

"A story helps folks face the world, even when it frightens 'em. And a lie does the opposite. It helps you hide." (pg. 288) 

Like Jonathan Auxier, Molly is a bonafide storyteller, but she needs her encounters with the night gardener to recognize the need for honesty, even if it makes for an unnerving tale. But making a reader uncomfortable is a sure sign that the storyteller has made a connection and created an opportunity for learning, whether it be for Molly, Kip or the reader of The Night Gardener. Something to ponder as you wait for your heart to stop racing.

 

The Night Gardener   The Night Gardener   The Night Gardener

I'm sorry that, because of this tardy review, I missed the launch (on May 31, 2014) of The Night Gardener as announced on Jonathan Auxier's website at http://www.thescop.com/. But don't let that stop you from checking out his website that includes his bio, videos, and other scoops from this scop.