The sounds of war have aroused a long-forgotten evil being and its hatchlings. This is unknown to the boy Phelim, who only knows that he has awakened one morning to find his personal world askew. The massive iron stove is pushed aside and little beings are marching around giving him orders. Even though it’s August, he sees that hot cross buns have been threaded on a wire and hooked onto the roof. His practical, domineering, older sister Prudence wouldn’t try to understand this kind of thing even if she were there. It seems that Phelim is fated to help make things right again in the world–his own and the larger one, and so begins an unbidden odyssey for the boy. Renamed Jack O’Green and given a trio of remarkably inept helpers, Phelim goes forth. Readers familiar with typical conventions of British lore will enjoy discovering dimensions and references beyond McCaughrean’s antiwar theme, symbolic references, and a likable new Green Man in this fresh and complex tale. (Ages 9-13)

Phelim was the only one who could save the world from the Hatchlings of the Stoor Worm. The Stoor Worm, who had been asleep for aeons was beginning to waken. Its Hatchlings were abroad to terrorize the people who had forgotten all about them. But how could Phelim, who was only a boy, after all, save the world from all these dreadful monsters?