The Empty Place
by Olivia A. Cole (Author)
A powerful and imaginative story about a girl fighting to find her way back home from a mind-bending land of the lost.
When Henry's father goes missing in the forest on her tenth birthday, her entire world shatters. The last thing she expects is for him to emerge from the trees exactly one year later, unharmed and bearing a gift for her--a strange necklace.
Everyone says her father's reappearance is a miracle, but Henry wants real answers to her questions. Where did her father go? How did he get back? And what's the truth behind his gift?
Wearing the necklace and carrying only a simple map, Henry enters the same forest that swallowed her father. But beyond the trees, she finds a world more incredible and dangerous than she ever imagined. It's a place for all who are lost, and there's no clear method of escape. As Henry follows in her father's footsteps and searches for a way home, she discovers that the truth she's seeking isn't as simple as she hoped, and if she wants to leave this world, she'll have to be braver than she's ever been.
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School Library Journal
Gr 4-7--Henry often felt eclipsed by her father, a YouTuber famous for his daring (and sometimes illegal) adventures. When he goes missing in the woods on her 11th birthday, Henry's feelings are complicated. They become even more so when on the one-year anniversary of his disappearance, he emerges from the woods, rambling. Trying to understand what happened, Henry, now 12, goes into the woods and finds herself in another world: This Place, where lost things end up until they can find their way back home. As if This Place weren't strange enough, the inhabitants say it's getting stranger: white beasts have emerged at night, and the moon is missing. Henry must work with the people she meets there to try to fix things, and in doing so, she uncovers her own flaws alongside uncomfortable truths about her father. This novel isn't so much a story about loss as it is about what it means to be lost. Henry has no voice at home, and her metaphorical sense of loss leads her to experience it in a real way. As Henry learns more about her father, she understands that she can't stay silent about his choices, and staying silent about her own hurts both her and her new friends. The conclusion may leave readers wishing for more closure, but the rest of Henry's journey is deeply satisfying. VERDICT This is a story that will resonate with many readers, especially those who enjoy fantasy and coming-of-age stories.--Kristin Brynsvold
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
A year after mysteriously vanishing into the woods near their home, white-cued Henrietta "Henry" Lightfoot's explorer father unexpectedly returns on her 12th birthday. He claims to have "found the land of Truth" and gives her a strange map and silver necklace. Determined to understand his compulsive wanderlust and to find out more about where he disappeared to, Henry follows his footsteps into the forest. She soon falls into This Place, an alternate world filled with lost people, creatures, and objects--and quickly learns that there's no guaranteed way home. Now Henry must retrace her dad's travels in This Place if she hopes to recreate his miraculous escape. Accompanied by two fellow lost children, Henry delves into This Place's increasingly hazardous nooks and crannies, uncovering mysteries and testing her own limits. In a dreamlike portal fantasy, Cole (Where the Lockwood Grows) examines the nature of home and what it means to be lost. Henry's drive to be "not an earthworm anymore, but a butterfly" like her father is a powerful sentiment that thoughtfully coincides with further interpretations of how to respect one's surroundings, even as one steps off the established path. Ages 8-12. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary. (Nov.)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Kirkus
A solemn and compelling read.
Review quotes
PRAISE FOR WHERE THE LOCKWOOD GROWS
This book is a wonderful breath of fresh air, a mystery of nature and our environment that is brimming with heart. Read, learn and fall in love with Erie's adventure to save her home and her family.—Kwame Mbalia, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the TRISTAN STRONG series
Olivia Cole is quite simply one of the finest and most unafraid storytellers....She listens, and then she translates, in bold and beautiful words, all the things that matter to her, and most definitely should to us.—Kwame Alexander, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE DOOR OF NO RETURN
Lyrical, imaginative, and timely- WHERE THE LOCKWOOD GROWS not only makes readers think about their place in the natural world and their own personal responsibility, but is also a gripping and entertaining adventure.—Jasmine Warga, New York Times bestselling author of OTHER WORDS FOR HOME
Beautifully written and full of insight and adventure, Where the Lockwood Grows is a timely, ambitious story about justice and finding one's place in the world.—Ashley Herring Blake, award-winning author of IVY ABERDEEN'S LETTER TO THE WORLD
★ In a dreamlike portal fantasy, Cole (Where the Lockwood Grows) examines the nature of home and what it means to be lost.—Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ Deeply satisfying...This is a story that will resonate with many readers, especially those who enjoy fantasy and coming-of-age stories.—School Library Journal, starred review
Cole's latest is infused with beautiful language that accentuates the somber tone. Introspective readers who are seeking a weighty, serious adventure of self-discovery will appreciate this work, in which individuals strive to overcome challenges as they seek their truths... A solemn and compelling read.
—Kirkus
Olivia A. Cole is a writer from Louisville, Kentucky. Her essays, which often focus on race and womanhood, have been published in Bitch Media, Real Simple, The LA Times, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Gay Mag, and more. She teaches creative writing at the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts, where she guides her students through poetry and fiction, but also considerations of the world and who they are within it. She is the author of several books for children and adults. Learn more about Olivia and her work at oliviaacole.com and follow her on Twitter @RantingOwl.
JUV013060 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Parents
JUV052000 - Juvenile Fiction | Monsters
JUV039290 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Activism & Social Justice
Friendship
Parent and child
Missing persons
Space and time
