Caroline and Mordecai the Gand by Jeff Gunhus
Genre: Magic Realism, Middle Grade, Fantasy
4.5 Stars
*Trigger warning: Parental death and grief*
Caroline is a sad thirteen-year-old grieving the
loss of her beloved dad. Her mother and her friend, Abby, are doing their best,
but Caroline can’t find a way out of their grief weighing her down.
Then one day, she spies something like a window in
her favorite lake and climbs the old tree on the bank. Her curiosity gets
better, and she slips and falls through the window. The new world is different.
It’s a neverending forest with magic and mystic.
She meets Mordecai the Gand, who agrees to help her
get back home. As they travel through the mysterious land, Caroline must decide
what home is and how she wants to live her life. She sees things in a different
light even as she battles with the grief she wants to avoid.
Caroline understands that she needs to help the
people she meets on the journey. Helping them is a way to help herself. She has
to choose between being brave or retreating into her shell. Her decisions can
change her life and others.
What does Caroline do? How does this adventure help
her?
The book starts with a forty-year-old Caroline
writing a letter to her young son. She has learned of her illness and needs to
share the news with him. She’s afraid of what her absence would do to her son
and writes about her adventure in her childhood to help him.
The story is beautiful! It is filled with doubts,
vulnerabilities, uncertainties that give way to courage, realization,
acceptance, and hope. The narration is smooth and flows like a river. The
imagery is so vivid, I could see myself traveling with Caroline and the Gand.
I was teary-eyed more than once. The ending goes
straight to the heart, and it’s easy to see why. The author wrote this story
when he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. He wanted to leave something for his
five children to help them sustain the grief if anything happened to him.
I’m so, so happy for the author that he has
celebrated this fifth cancer-free year. I wish him and his family the best of
health and loads of happiness.
I’m also glad that those who read the story urged
the author to publish it. This is a book that deserves to be read by everyone.
It has the right balance of emotions and pace.
To sum up, Caroline and Mordecai the Gand is a
must-read irrespective of what one’s age is or whether or not we’ve lost a
loved one. It's a small book but has much to give to the readers.
I received an ARC from BookSirens, Seven Guns Press,
and author Jeff Gunhus.
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