Carley's letter about The Edge Chronicles

Dear Ms. Cartwright,

      I just finished The Edge Chronicles: Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart. I read this over the weekend. There was a picture on almost every other page, and the illustrator, Chris Riddell, is amazing! The illustrations have lots of emotion. He put a lot into the facial expressions. He has to be very experienced to put all that detail into the pages. All the plants and animals are made up and to be fake like that, the drawings are very specific to the descriptions.
     I think it was selfish of Twig’s dad to leave him to the woodtrolls like that, and then he left him in the fire! He said he didn’t need another crew member but he is his son, he shouldn’t have abandoned him in the first place.
     I feel bad for Twig, all the woodtroll children made fun of him for being different! He wasn’t a woodtroll and they shouldn’t have picked on him like that. There’s nothing wrong with being different. However, his lengthy body got the sky pirates to keep an eye on him, so it has some good to it.
     I’m glad that Ma-Tatum gave Twig the hammelhorn waist coat. If she didn’t he would have been eaten by the bloodoak. You rub the hammelhorn one way, it’s soft and thick, rub it the other way it’s like needles! As the bloodoak was swallowing him its throat rubbed the coat the wrong way and it spit him out!
     The way Twig changed from the beginning to the end of the book is that at the beginning of the book he was really angry and disappointed that he was different than the others. At the end he was glad he was leaner and taller and not a woodtroll because he could be a sky pirate.
      I feel bad for Twig when he was captured by the Trogs and was Mag’s pet. He wasn’t allowed to talk or show basically any sign of intelligence! And when he accidentally spoke when Mag didn’t recognize him the termagants went crazy! He had to climb up an air vent to escape, since the place was under ground.
      I’m glad that Twig pulled the banderbear’s tooth, at least it was friendly. The bear would become his friend and helped him survive! It picked out the good and bad fruits and helped find safe spots to sleep. They were great friends until the banderbear was eaten by the wigwigs. That was sad; Twig was very somber until he was captured by a rotsucker.
     I was worried for Twig when a rotsucker tried to eat him while he was sleeping in the cocoon. He was sleeping when the rotsucker hardened the cocoon and carried it away to its home. At least he had his naming knife to break the asphalt like shell. what really made him and I sad was when the knife broke! It was used to name him, and was his only defense… besides the hammelhorn coat.
     You really need to read this book, Ms. C. It’s amazing! It is so good, but definitely a fantasy book! I loved it! I think you will too!
Sincerely,
Carley