I had similar rituals when I lost my mum - I think kids go into their own worlds to help cope with the trauma of losing a parent, to make them feel strong. And especially cos bereaved kids find it hard to open up to an adult so they harbour their feelings & find ways of dealing with their sorrow, like retreating into books, nature, animals. I used to hide in a cupboard full of coats in the outhouse, and wrap myself in my mum's coat cos it had her smell on it. I also hid in the pantry where I used to give myself a pep talk on being strong and I secretly spoke to my mum in there too (I vowed never to drink tea again as no one made it as good as she did. I haven't drunk it since). And I hid round the back of the shed and carved patterns into the wood. When my mum was in hospital, my dad would find me and my niece in the outhouse crying and he'd cheer us up by calling us by one another's middle names. A lad in my class lost his mum the same time as I did and we became special friends for a while cos no one knew how we felt. It was such a relief to know someone of my own age knew how I felt.
It's funny as I thought of writing a story about a child who loses a parent and a door to a magical parallel world opens & the child goes on a healing adventure. And the child would find solace in a huge oak tree. Awww

I found the first chapters quite slow and I thought this could well be a book for older children to read as a bridge between children's books and adult fiction. But once the story got going I changed my mind. Maybe its just that I have a really good imagination and can see everything thats described but I'm not sure that some of the content was ok for kids.

Anyway, I liked the crooked man I mean I liked the idea of him - that he was the incarnation of evil and the reason for all the terrible things that happen in the world. It was also nice to progress through familiar tales like snow white etc and get the bad ending instead of the happy one. This was nicely balanced by the happy ending given to David which I thought was perfect. I also loved the idea that the fears of the children who went to that world could become real - what kid isn't afraid of monters with a million eyes and claws???? - which I think gave a form to the war in David's mind as shown by all the dead soldiers.

This book was particularly violent in places, which I think someone else mentioned was just like a fairy tale. My mum used to read me Chicken Licken all the time and it does not have a happy ending at all. Had a quick look through my book of fairy tales last night and so many of them have death and violence.

The beginning few chapters were a real surprise to me. I felt so emotional reading them that I very nearly cried. For a child to go through that must be horrendous. I remember feeling so afraid as a child that something would happen to my parents or sister as a result of something I had done. It's comforting to know that those worries are felt by others too . Books played a huge role in my life as a child - and they still do - but they certainly helped me get through many hard times as I spent much of my childhood in hospital. My books helped me escape to other worlds although I never had such an exciting time as David!

The way the novel was written was spot on with regard to the content - the prose, written like a fairy tale kept everything in perspective and you could clearly see what Connolly was trying to say.

My favourite set of characters had to be the Dwarves I found them so funny and they came at a great point in the book. They reminded me of something Monty Python may have written!

I also appreciated the ending - it was an adult ending, discussing the pain that people go through in life but the return to the forest was really warming - I guess I'm just a bit soppy but it did make me smile.