Jo Marshall

As dangerous as fire is to us human beings, what would you think of a raging inferno if you were a small being made of wood? Twigs are adventurous stick creatures who live in the knotholes of ancient trees. Leaf is a Twig and dwells, with his father Pappo, mother Ivy, younger sister Fern, and baby twin brothers Buddy and Burba, in his home, the Old Seeder, a huge cedar tree in the South Forest. One day, a strange, old Twig named Mook arrives from the far away North Forest on a tooler (bird) named Pesky with an incoherent tale about a star, the moon, and Twig babes who need help. Mumma determines that Mook is sick with brittlebark, and the only way to cure him is to take him to the Long Ice on Echo Peak, so Pappo and a chipmunk named Whisper take Mook to the glacier.
While they are gone, Leaf decides to fly on Pesky to the North Forest to see if there really are Twig babes who need to be rescued. He finds that there is a huge chasm between the North and South Forests, but a large sugar pine tree has fallen from one edge to the other forming a bridge and thus providing a way of escape. He also notices that the North Forest seems almost dead. Pesky takes him to a cave where he meets Mook’s granddaughter Star, her brother Moon, and six little Twigs named Breeze, Sand, Moss, Cone, Mist, and Pool, along with their pets, the looksalot (chameleon) Veil and three stickytoes (salamanders) Click, Chirp, and Crunch. They and Mook are the only ones left after their forest and their families had been destroyed by barkbiters (bark beetles).
Leaf sends Moon back on Pesky to warn Pappo who, after he returns with Mook, heads to the North Forest with Moon and the Cappynut Twigs, Sapper and his twin sons Ruffle and Tuffle, to see if they can help. Meanwhile, Leaf and Star set out to bring the Twig babes to the South Forest, along the way battling the barkbiters, an evil weasel, and a cougar and her kits. A surprising friend, a spirit bear, arrives to help. A forest fire, which Leaf accidentally and unknowingly sets while fighting the beetles, chases them to the chasm. Will they make it in time? Like its predecessor, Leaf and the Rushing Waters, this story is an environmental fantasy designed to provide a thrilling tale of excitement for youngsters to read which also will introduce them to some of the difficulties facing our natural world. Bark beetles are real insects which attack and destroy millions of trees and even whole forests. Two more coming books in the Twigs Stories series will be Leaf and the Long Ice later this year and Leaf and Echo Peak in 2013.… (meer)

Do you know what a Twig is? Everyone knows that a twig is a small stick from a tree, but Twigs are impish stick creatures no taller than a robin and dwell in the wilderness. Leaf is a young Twig who lives in the Old Seeder tree not far from the river known as Rushing Waters between Thunder Peak and Echo Peak with his Pappo Needles, Mumma Ivy, younger sister Fern, and baby twin brothers Buddy and Burba. One night a huge storm causes the glacial ice dam further up in the mountains to melt and break, producing an avalanche which floods the valley and surrounds the Old Seeder with raging water.
Luckily, Leaf is thrown from the tree, but the rest of the family is trapped, so Leaf gets help from his friend Rustle, a Ridge Twig, and they fly on a leaf far across the wide valley to find the “chompers” (beavers), hoping that the colony’s goliath leader Slapper can build a dam to divert the floodwaters and save Leaf’s family. Along the way, they have to face several dangers, such as biting prairie dogs (poppers), owls (screechers), foxes, hornets (skullfaces), and rattlesnakes (rockcrawlers). However, they are helped by a Silver Leaf Twig named Feather, her three chipmunks (chippies) Whisper, Speckles, and Claws, and a hummingbird (hummer) which they call Shimmer. Will the three make it to Slapper’s pond in time? Will the chompers agree to come and help? Will Leaf ever see his family again?
This epic-style adventure is both fast-moving and action-packed. The characters are likeable, and the plot is filled with excitement. Young people, in addition to reading an engaging story, will learn important facts about beavers and other aspects of the natural world around us. So the book is not only fun, family-friendly entertainment but educational as well. Furthermore, a percentage of all profits from the sale of this and other Twigs Stories books are donated to nonprofit organizations involved with wildlife protection and nature conservancy. Book two in the series is entitled Leaf and the Sky of Fire.… (meer)