Willow Wildthing and the Swamp Monster

Willow is exploring the garden of her new house when she meets the Wild Things: a small band of barefoot children with sticks and feathers in their hair. After they capture Willow’s dog Sniff, she pursues them across Green Slime River and into the woods beyond, where she learns that they need Sniff to help track the monster that’s been invading their camp. Their friend Bear went after the monster alone and has disappeared! So Willow and Sniff join the Wild Things, navigating their way past Outsiders, through the Valley of the Killer Plants and across the stinky swamp, before facing the swamp monster itself in order to help their friend.

This is a gentle adventure story that celebrates going back to basics and children immersing themselves in imaginative play in the ‘wild’ outdoors. For the Wild Things, these are no ordinary woods but a magical wilderness where adventures happen every day. Perhaps they’re ordinary children, but when they enter the woods a little of its magic finds its way into them. Themes of friendship and looking out for one another thread their way through, and there’s a fun twist when it comes to the swamp monster itself.