When a favorite author like Jonathan Auxier breaks into a new genre or age group, I’m happy to follow. The Fabled Stables: Willa the Wisp introduces chapter book readers to Auxier’s imaginative worlds in an easier to read, beautifully illustrated format.
The Story
Auggie lives on an island at the top of the world. His job is to care for all of the fantastical creatures who inhabit the Fabled Stables. When a new stable magically appears with a portal to a mysterious forest, Auggie must find the new creature–a wisp–and bring her back. Things get complicated when a band of nefarious hunters trap not only the wisp, but Auggie too. Of course, Auggie outsmarts the hunters and saves the wisp.
What I loved
- Illustrations–Every page contains beautiful color illustrations by Olga Demidova. These help draw your young reader in and help them understand the story better.
- Story connections–Fans of Auxier’s other books will notice several connections to Peter Nimble’s world. If you have both middle-grade and chapter book readers, this book could be a great story bridge to connect them.
Although the chapters are short, there are occasional difficult words (exhaustion, Gargantula, and truncheon to name a few). Because of this, I’d recommend this as a read-together for younger/struggling readers.
Willa the Wisp is the first book in the Fabled Stables series. So if your young reader enjoys this book, there are more adventures to come! We can’t wait for the next book, Trouble with Tattle-Tails.
If you haven’t read Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes yet, you can read my review HERE.
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