The Dyerville Tales

"Kozlowsky deftly intertwines imagination and adventure with sobering realities; while the story arc itself engrosses and the grandfather's fairy tale–like quest enchants, he underpins the novel with an unceasing melancholy that remembers the human heart, its pain, and its need for hope."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review) M. P. Kozlowsky's The Dyerville Tales is a powerfully imaginative middle grade novel that blurs the line between fairy tale and reality. Vince Elgin is an orphan, having lost his mother and father in a fire when he was young. With only a senile grandfather he barely knows to call family, Vince was interned in a group home, dreaming that his father, whose body was never found, might one day return for him. When a letter arrives, telling Vince his grandfather has passed away, he is convinced that if his father is still alive, he'll find him at the funeral. He strikes out for the small town of Dyerville, carrying only one thing with him: his grandfather's journal. The journal tells a fantastical story of witches and giants and magic, one that can't be true. But as Vince reads on, he finds that his very real adventure may have more in common with his grandfather's than he ever could have known.