Elf Dog and Owl Head

Starred review from February 20, 2023
Wandering the mystical forest behind his house on Mount Norumbega offers Clay O’Brian an escape from being stuck at home with his family due to a global virus. As Clay attempts to play Frisbee solo in the woods, he encounters an elegant white elf hound with a bejeweled collar who’s been separated from a Royal Hunt. Elphinore, as she is called, is part of an “ancient and dangerous crowd” known as the People Under the Mountain—and when she leads him on a path he’s never seen, Clay beholds extraordinary alternate realms “in different folds of space.” Alongside genteel Amos, an owl-headed boy, he spends the summer exploring such places and anticipating the festivities of Midsummer’s Eve. Meanwhile, older sister DiRossi seethes in her room at the unfairness of spending her 14-year-old summer alone, and, deciding to find out what her brother is up to, has adventures of her own, including an encounter with a similarly misanthropic giant. Revisiting the setting of his Norumbegan Quartet and layering the everyday with intriguing lands and creatures, Anderson expertly balances the anguish of pandemic-era isolation with the transporting joys of new friendships. Stylized b&w pencil art from Wu punctuate this wryly told fantasy. Human characters default to white. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: David McCormick Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Agency.