In the Australian author Matilda Woods’s third magical realist novel, “Otto Tattercoat and the Forest of Lost Things,” the town of Hodeldorf is the coldest city in the world. At a library or bookstore, these would be shelved in the “young reader” section, but I believe in 2020 we all might find a little solace in stories about kindness and bravery, about winter giving way to spring and suffering to joy. What a delightful surprise, then, to be handed three new books that so perfectly evoke that childhood sensation of falling in love with reading. I’m almost 50 and both of my daughters are nearly grown, so it is rare that I pick up a children’s book anymore. Things might get dicey, as there are bound to be stormy nights, impenetrable forests, monsters and witches, but in the end, and this is most important, everything will be all right. They might be at the back of a wardrobe or in the side of a giant tree, but wherever the doors lead, once we step through, time will cease to matter and our everyday worries will disappear. Many of us discover as children that books can be like secret doorways. OF SALT AND SHORE Written and illustrated by Annet Schaap Translated by Laura Watkinson
THE WAY PAST WINTER By Kiran Millwood Hargrave OTTO TATTERCOAT AND THE FOREST OF LOST THINGS By Matilda Woods
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