A first entry in a new series set in the magical world of Serafina finds a young night-spirit thief stranded in the hostile world of the day-folk, where she discovers that the foundations that have guarded the Faeran for eons are under attack. 75,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

In the late 1800s, a twelve-year-old nightspirit living in the Great Smoky Mountains despairs as homesteaders destroy her forest habitat, until a chance encounter with a "day-folk" man changes everything she thought she knew about her people--and their greatest enemy. - (Baker & Taylor)

In the late 1800s, a nightspirit living in the Great Smoky Mountains despairs as homesteaders destroy her forest habitat, until a chance encounter with a "day-folk" man changes everything she thought she knew about her people. - (Baker & Taylor)

Robert Beatty is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Serafina series and the Willa of the Wood series published by Disney Hyperion. Loved by young readers and adults alike, the Serafina and Willa books are being taught in over a thousand classrooms nationwide and have been translated into over 22 languages. Robert lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and three daughters. He writes full-time now, but in his past lives, Robert was one of the early pioneers of cloud computing, the founder/CEO of Plex Systems, the co-founder of Beatty Robotics, and the chairman/CTO of Narrative magazine. In 2007, he was named an Entrepreneur of the Year. When asked about the inspiration for his books, Robert said, “The Serafina and Willa books grew out of my desire to write stories about unusual and heroic young girls for my three daughters." - (Grand Central Pub)

Booklist Reviews

Readers who love adventure stories featuring fairies and the natural world will have a special affinity for Beatty's latest. The author of the Serafina series has created a world within a world among the Smoky Mountains of Appalachia. Willa is one of the Faeran, magical folk who live in a woodsy hive hidden high above the world of humans, who they prey on, stealing food and items they need. But are the day-folk as mindlessly cruel as the charismatic leader of the Faeran claims? Or are the Faeran people being misled? A nighttime encounter with a kind but sad homesteader has Willa questioning everything. When intrepid Willa discovers human children being kept in an underground prison by her leader, she investigates, at her own risk. Her ability to call on her environment to blend into her surroundings also allows Willa to see the leader for what he is. Can she save the children, and maybe even her people, in time?  Expect this series to be popular, and buy the first volume accordingly. Grades 4-6. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

The Faeran, magical wood-dwellers, have always lived peacefully alongside the Cherokee in this story set in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1900. Now, loggers and settlers move in, threatening the region's beauty and inhabitants. Young Faeran Willa, who's been taught to fear humans, flees her restrictive clan and finds herself seeking refuge with a human and helping him. Beatty reminds readers of the strength and sacrifices renewal demands. Copyright 2019 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

The old sourwood trees, the rushing streams and rivers, and the great mountain are home to 12-year-old Willa. She and her mamaw live in Dead Hollow with hundreds of her dwindling Faeran clan. Ruled over by their fearsome leader and god, the padaran, the Faeran are a woodland race who once numbered in the thousands, living on the Smoky Mountain as stewards of the forest. Under the rule of the padaran, the old ways of speaking to animals and plants, foraging and caretaking, and using the old language are forbidden. Instead, Faeran children are forced to speak Eng-lish and drafted into his fearsome army of trained hunter-thieves called jaetters, who must steal from the day-folk, or white homesteaders. One night, Willa breaks into a homesteader's cabin and is badly wounded. When the human man sees that she's so gravely hurt, he tries to help—to her shock. Willa flees to Dead Hollow, where she is shocked to discover a young Cherokee boy along with many other human children imprisoned. As she sets out to unravel this mystery, she grows to understand the power of individual choice and of standing up for what's right. Beatty writes a close third-person narration from Willa's perspective, allowing readers to see the various humans she encounters through her eyes: the Cherokee the Faeran predated but live peacefully alongside; the day-folk the jaetters steal from; and the loggers and developers who do violence to them all—and with whom the padaran has more in common than he should. A moving, atmospheric journey of hope. (Fantasy. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

PW Annex Reviews

In this charming middle grade adventure set in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains in 1900, Willa, a young Faeran, or night-spirit, is caught between her own slowly dying clan and the human "day-folk," whom she's always been taught to fear and avoid. As a jaetter or hunter-thief, Willa is responsible for stealing from the day-folk to benefit her clan and its charismatic leader, the padaran. But a botched scavenging attempt reveals that not all humans are murderous monsters. Her additional discovery that her own people hold dangerous secrets prompts her to defy the enigmatic padaran and seek a way to correct a grievous wrong. Faced with the potential destruction of everything she's known, Willa takes control of her own destiny. In this series starter set in the same world as his Serafina books, Beatty conjures up a resourceful, compassionate heroine. Full of atmospheric details and richly described magic ("As the branches reached out over the water to hold her, they rustled in the wind, talking"), this well-paced tale asks insightful questions about the relationship between nature and humans. Ages 8–12. Agent: Bill Contardi, Brandt & Hochman. (July)