Yep,” our father would say, before we all wandered off to nibble at the turkey carcass and cut slivers off the cold plum pudding, “that’s the story. Could be better, could be worse. But at least there’s a baby at the center of it.” In fact, I stopped about a quarter of the way in. It is a Dystopian book about two sisters basically facing the end of the world..or at least the end of the world as they in fact know it. Hard to put down... A tragic, yet uplifting, tale of human fortitude and love that needs to be told and widely read.”

Goddamn right we aren’t,” said our father, laying down his pen, bounding up from the table by the front window, already warming to the energy of his own talk. Hegland’s debut novel…is beautifully written, moving, and the kind of tale one has to call ‘wise’—a small masterpiece, in fact.” After Nell almost leaves her sister to follow the dream of her boyfriend who shows up months later at her door, and after Eva is brutally raped by a stranger, the girls slowly succumb to the realization that things are not going to change. They need to take drastic steps to take care of themselves and forget their dreams. Nell lets go of her childish crush and Eva stops dancing. Together they work the land, learn about the forest and what it can provide for them and store food for the winter. Above all, Into the Forest is a story about the boundaries and possibilities of sisterhood. Do you feel a comparable story could have been written about a relationship between a brother and sister or two brothers?I love Anthony Browne. If I were forced, under extreme duress, to choose my favourite children’s author – it might have to be Anthony Browne and the book might have to be “Into the Forest” (actually, it could be Gorilla, but that’s a different review). If the last book I'd read was bright lights and noise, then this book would surely be dark and quiet. Make no mistake though. Quiet can be beautiful. But this story holds the outside world at bay; we have only vague notion of the collapse of modern society outside the northern California forest where two sisters in their late teens struggle to survive. Living with their parents in a home 30 miles from the nearest town, home-schooled and pursuing solitary passions, Eva and Nell are accustomed to isolation. But as their connections to society are severed and as society dies away, the sisters are forced to become pioneers on their own land, guardians of their homestead and safety. We have differentiated this KS1 reading resource so you can choose a resource or two that best suit the age and ability of your class.

This is useful to complete once children have grasped the difference between the word classifications.Gave me goosebumps, actual goosebumps... Thrilling and heartwarming, without masking horror and tragedy.” You can choose whether your class focus on adding in the words or pictures to complete the sentences. In a way, I guess it's a more realistic look at what a post-apocalyptic world would look like for a family that was already pretty much living off the grid. Nell cans tomatoes. Nell learns how to kill a pig. All, conveniently, by reading encyclopedias that are in the house.

The girls live on their own in a cabin in a forest 32 miles from the city of Redwood, California. Their mother died the previous year of cancer, and their father died more recently in an accident while chopping down trees for firewood. I liked the book well enough and read the last 75% in one sitting which usually tells me I'm really vested and enjoying it. But a couple of things happened near the end that were disturbing which ruined the book for me. Those parts were NOT in the movie, thank goodness! There was an incestual scene, not graphic, but whaaattt? And the sister develops milk for her nephew and nurses him herself. Why? Just, why?! And HOW?! It didn't make any sense. In “Into The Woods” there is an unseen opponent. The boy’s own anxieties about his father at war are preventing his happiness. Plan

You would need to be sensitive to children who might not have secure family relationships, might have lost a grandparent to illness or have an absent parent, some young children might also be a little afraid of the forest and what lurks in it – however none of these things would be concerning if it were managed well.