Written beautifully, nicely paced, and pollinated by a rich group of believable characters—well done! As I mentioned before, Auxier’s previous novel Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes was his original chapter book debut. As a devotee of Peter Pan and books of that ilk, it felt like more of an homage at times that a book that stood on its own two feet. In the case of The Night Gardener no such confusion remains. Auxier’s writing has grown some chest hair and put on some muscles. Consider, for example, a moment when Molly has woken up out of a bad dream to find a dead leaf in her hair. “Molly held it up against the window, letting the moonlight shine through its brittle skin. Tiny twisted veins branched out from the center stem – a tree inside a tree.” I love the simplicity of that. Particularly when you take into account the fact that the tree that created the leaf may not have been your usual benign sapling. There’s no better place for writing than on a rooftop—the fresh air makes your words come out like songs.” The story is a bit spooky, but if you’re looking for something that is just slightly on the creepy side, this one would be an awesome read. The Night Gardener is about the impression and long lasting effects magic and art can make on a soul and a community. Long after the “ooohs” and “aaahh”s fade away—the hope and energy of a creation or magical moment remain. Magic is out there for all to see, feel, find, and change us!

The book falls in the horror-fantasy genre, and probably is the same level of spooky as Neil Gaiman's Coraline. As the title warns you in advance, you know there will be someone/something called a Night Gardener in the story. But when the story brings him up, you cant help being chilled and thrilled simultaneously. The action moves pretty fast and though there are a few medium-paced scenes interspersed in the story, they don't drive you away but keep you hooked. The Windsors: they could so easily have just been “the awful family Kip and Molly have to serve”, but they were given complexity and were some of the strongest characters in the story.Dragi pufoși, dacă sunteți mari amatori de cărți ilustrate, puneți neapărat The Night Gardener (Simon & Schuster) pe lista voastră. Be warned, though, this book be very disturbing for the very young. For example, a sinister man walking around the house at night, sometimes peering over their beds, may cause nightmares for the weak, like me. When I write it out like that, I realize just how much Jonathan Auxier managed to fit in his story for young people, and how well he pulled it off; The Night Gardener is chilling, moving and, at times, heartbreaking. Da named it "Courage", saying that all good tools deserved a good title. Kip had always liked the idea that courage was a thing a person could hold onto and use. A secret night gardener slowly transforms Grimloch Lane into a circus of wonder one tree and shrub at a time. The magic of the gardener’s work brings the people together to dream and guess and experience. Come see! Take a walk down the lane!

This was something remarkable. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I came out with a new favorite. Those are by far the best books to read. Molly, our main character, is the older sister of Kip. As orphans, they struggle to get by. They're Irish, and face xenophobia and discriminatory remarks from people in England, which is where the book takes place. When we meet Molly and Kip, they are traveling to the Windsor estate where they are to work as servants. The estate is surrounded by "sour woods"; the local villagers refuse to enter the woods and go to the estate, which legend has it is cursed. The Windsors are Bertram and Constance, who are parents to six year old Penny and young teenager Alistair. When Molly and Kip get to the house, however, Constance does not want the children to stay. Molly is able to convince Constance by telling her a story - Molly is quite talented in that regard. And so they stay, although they recognize that something is odd and sinister about the place. There's a tree growing alongside the house, as if its become one with the house: The Night Gardener was a buddy read between my son and myself, and the periods of dark and creepy mystery/suspense made it a fun experience for the most part. Although the ending was a bit of a let down after all of the build up, we enjoyed this novel overall. My son verbalized his feeling that The Night Gardener contained quite a bit of "filler" content and could have ended a lot sooner, especially in light of the resolution Mr. Auxier chose. Since he is in the targeted age group for this novel, I thought it was important to note this. Overall though, we are both glad we read this. My son said he personally wouldn't recommend it to others quite as strongly as it was recommended to him but he could appreciate the moral of the story and learning life lessons through reading always holds value. So proud :) The manor’s Son and Daughter are oblivious and affected slightly. The husband, who fled the place as a child when his parents disappeared, desperately seeks business in town, with unsavoury associates. Spending nights away clearly helps. It is the wife whose health is being leeched by.... something. A secret she harbours indicates that she is permitting the toxicity, with whatever self-awareness she has left, to sustain that secret.Molly & Kip: these two are wonderful protagonists for young readers to read about. They have depth and discover things about themselves though the story. There are some great messages in what these kids go through. One more thing I found very interesting was how the story kept raising one question: what is the difference between a story and a lie? The entire story seems to be built on this foundation and it is sustained to the very end. The story evolves around what they discover about the new home and the man that wanders the grounds at night—often chilling and spooky. He develops it by starting with the mundane and carefully adding the ghostly elements. This book reads like a dark folktale or fairytale. It feels like a story I could have grown up with, something straight out of the Brothers Grimm, but coupled with just fantastic storytelling.

And add to that the characters (ahhhhh, the characters)! Molly and Tip are one of my new favorite sibling sets in books. They love each other so much that they're willing to sacrifice everything for the other. In most of the situations, what keeps Molly going is thinking about Tip and vice versa for him. And each member of the Windsor family is so fleshed out and explored, and their downward spiral is fascinating to watch and so well written.Storytelling and the secret desires of the heart wind together in this atmospheric novel that doubles as a ghost tale." As a middle grade book, it is outstanding. It does require a strong reader though, one that is ready to move past stories whose characters are either heroes or villains, and start to understand and appreciate motivations and increased complexity. Hester, for example, brought tears to my eyes, although I’m not sure she would have the same effect on a child. Lots of creepiness, memorable characters, a worthy message, Auxier’s atmospheric drawings and touches of humor amid the horror make this cautionary tale one readers will not soon forget." It was pretty brilliant of Auxier to place the story within the Victorian era. As he points out in his afterword, it "was perhaps the last point in Western history when magic and science were allowed to coexist." This idea is executed through the character of a local doctor, who witnesses Constance Windsor's declining health, but is resistant to the idea of the supernatural. For a time, the book this most reminded me of was M.P. Kozlowsky’s little known Juniper Berry, a title that could rival this one in terms of creepiness. Both books involve trees and wishes and souls tied into unlawful bargains with dark sources. There the similarities end, though. Auxier has crafted with undeniable care a book that dares to ask whether or not the things we wish for are the things best for us in the end. His storytelling works in large part too because he gives us a unique situation. Here we have two characters that are desperately trying to stay in an awful, dangerous situation by any means necessary. You sympathize with Molly’s dilemma at the start, but even though you’re fairly certain there’s something awful lurking beneath the surface of the manor, you find yourself rooting for her, really hoping that she gets the job of working there. It’s a strange sensation, this dual hope to both save the heroine and plunge her into deeper danger.