Otherwood

Praise

Shy Stuey and just-short-of-bossy Elly Rose are likable, their friendship believable and moving. Infused with the magic of the unknown, the eerie wilderness entices them, and readers, inside. An intensely atmospheric ghost story and elegy for a vanished world: spellbinding.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

As evocative as a David Almond novel, and as infused with heartache and affirmation, Stuey’s story will set imaginations spinning with possibilities about other worlds, ancient sins, and the power of truth.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Explaining the implications of concurrent realities is not an easy task, but one Hautman handles skillfully. His fluid writing and lush descriptions of the natural world carry the story, even when questions of how and why remain. Readers will race to the end to learn how it all untangles.
—Booklist

Hautman plays with time and reality, spitting the story into two narratives, Stuey’s and Elly’s. The story lines touchingly merge for a satisfying conclusion. The main characters are likable and thoughtfully developed, with intelligence and flashes of humor.
—School Library Journal

This mind-bending mystery plays right into questions entertained by children and adults alike at least since Schrödinger introduced the possibility of multiple, simultaneous realities…By confining each of the main characters to his or her own universe and linear time, Hautman limits confusion, pays homage to the power of imagination fueled by nature, and explores middle-grade-friendly possibilities of agency, faith, courage, and friendships that have the power to heal generational wounds.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

There’s a rip in the space-time continuum, and two ordinary kids have to repair it. Trickier still is making such a feat seem believable for the reader. It is a trick that Mr. Hautman pulls off magnificently in this thought-provoking story. Readers ages 8-14 may find themselves mulling over the enigmatic ideas it raises long after they’ve finished the book.
—The Wall Street Journal

This is an intricately woven and affecting novel about the power of true friendship, the corrosiveness of secrets and guilt, and the mysterious possibilities of the world.
—The Horn Book

Hautman has woven a story rich with forest lore and an understanding of the fragility of wild spaces near the city. The ache of loss also permeates this story, for lost friendships and lost wildness, even as the characters look to mend what’s broken.
—Star Tribune