Willow's Dad was supposed to take her to her hockey game in New Brunswick. But when he cancelled at the last minute, Willow's mom took her, and with no other choice, took her little brother, nicknamed Wisp, as well. Her mother is in a constant state of desperate worry over Wisp, who has been very ill for ages, with no reason found, and no way yet found to help him recover, and her father has pulled away from the family, unable to cope otherwise. Driving home through Maine they are caught by a fierce snowstorm, and their car ends up hanging perilously half over a bridge. Fortunately, help arrives in the form of the snowplow team of Kismet, a little town in the middle of nowhere, and the three of them are taken in by Cora, who runs the town's only lodging house.
The snow continues, and Maine declares a state of emergency. And so they are stuck in Kismet, and Willow's mom is almost frantic about Wisp, although he is no worse than usual. Then she hears that the doctor at the local hospital might be able to help him, and she starts hoping again. Willow is fed up with everything; she loves Wisp, but doesn't want him subjected to yet another round of futile tests and proddings and no answers. And she wants to get home, to her friends, and to her father.
Their first snowbound day in Kismet is enlivened by local kids coming round--Topher, a boy a bit older than Willow, and his little brothers. Willow does enjoy Topher's company over the next few days, but he seems a little weird in an off sort of way, and so does the whole town for that matter....and then her mother starts acting strangely calm and happy, and not at all anxious to leave. What is it about Kismet that makes it strange?
And so Willow sets herself to finding the heart of the magic (real magic) that flows through the roots of the town. When she does, she realizes she will have an awful decision to make. Stay with her brother and mother in a town she'll never be able to leave, or leave them behind for a wild, uncertain future?
I think this is a book kids will love more than mothers do. Willow's mother has two children, after all, and though I can sympathize with her spending all her emotional energy on her desperately ill child, I still judge her for not having much of anything to give Willow (although driving to New Brunswick in winter shows she does care, so maybe I'm too harsh). Romantically inclined kids will almost certainly find the attraction between Willow and Topher sweet as all get out. Kids will also come to the magical element of the story with fresher eyes, and so it will be more intriguing for them.
The final choice that Willow and her mother and Topher face, though, is just as heart crunching for adults as it is for kids, and sheds a retroactive power over the story as a whole.
disclaimer: review copy received from its publicist.
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