Wing & Claw #1: Forest of Wonders audiobook

From the publisher: The first book in a planned trilogy, Linda Sue Park’s enchanting new fantasy-adventure richly explores the links between magic and botany, family and duty, environment and home.Wing and Claw Book 1: Forest of Wonders, has much to recommend it. The cover is gorgeous, and the main character, Raffa, is admirable and talented. His cousin makes fun of him for his small size, but he is the better apothecary student.Raffa, his parents, his cousin, and his uncle live in a village and are all apothecaries (or apothecaries in the making). They live near the Forest of Wonders, where they collect plants that can be used to lessen pain and heal injuries. Raffa has a gift, an ability to intuit whether combinations will help or harm. He saves a badly injured bat, and it leads to consequences he couldn’t possibly have imagined.There is conflict in the story, and peer pressure, and bad behavior by adults. For once, a bat is one of the good characters (although at the expense of crows and owls, who are depicted as doing bad things). For my taste, for a book called Forest of Wonders, too much of the story was set in the city and not enough in the Forest itself. I hope more time will be spent in the Forest in the remaining two books in the series.The story has the nice message that every life is worth saving. It also questions the relationship between humans and animals and the rights that animals have. The book does not stand alone; it ends very much in the middle of the story. Wing and Claw Book 1: Forest of Wonders is intended for children age 8-12/grades 3-7. I think it will appeal to children who love animals and nature (although parents should be aware that some animals are intentionally injured in the story). A 3.5 star book. I read an advance reader's edition of Wing and Claw Book 1: Forest of Wonders.

This book is great for students who love fantasy, animals, and the mysteries of apothecary work! I really enjoyed reading about the way the main character and his family use the Forrest of Wonders to create very interesting combinations. The book kept me in suspense!

The Trees The LimitWing and Claw Forest of WondersBook by: Linda Sue ParkBy: Jin C.In a forest full of magic with exotic plants cool right? People like apothecaries use them, why don't you ask Raffa about it. Well Raffa Santana (a.k.a. baby genius) a ten year old boy who always wanted to become an apothecary, using different botanicals for cures. But he had a problem with his father looking over his shoulder when he is creating the simplest formulas. “Watching and commenting on what seemed like his every move”. Bummer Right? I would hate to have those helicopter parents, I kind of feel sorry for him (kind of). Anyway, Raffa always wanted be on his own using his own botanicals to make his own formulas (cures) like a real apothecary. So that’s just his life, basically. Also getting what he wants will come at a price that he will not be able to afford.Then one special day, a very injured bat crashed into his room. “The bat seemed almost like a gift: a chance to work on serious injuries by himself”. Wow isn’t that amazing; his gift came from above, literally. He inspected the bat and made an infusion and poultice for the little guy but it wasn’t enough.He had to tell his mum and da because he wanted to help that bat. His da told him about a red scarlet vine that his mum (his dad’s mum) used, to heal a horribly burned girl. Raffa knew that was his only chance for him to save the bat. He pleaded to his parents to go to the forest to find the vine, wait hold on The Forest of Wonders. So his mum said yes, only if he brings his cousin Garith. Garith (“a year older but not a year wiser”) and Raffa set off to get that vine.While they were in the “Forest of Wonders” they had been strangly attacked by an owl? In the middle of the day? Hmmmm, that’s kind of fishy, don’t you think? But wait, there's more, there was a forest clearing. It wasn’t there the last time he went, what? Well this is confusing. When they rested Raffa saw a red snake, in a green forest, terrible camo. But it wasn’t a snake, it was the vine. So they headed back. He made an infusion and poultice for the bat (with his dad watching over him obviously).They had a feast, but they only had feasts for a celebration, this day is full of mysteries. Garith’s da told him that his family is going to Gilden and they were invited too. He exploded in excitement but his da said no. His da is such a bummer, sucks to be him. He left two days later, and he missed him but was also mad at him. He is just filled with mixed emotions.So he and his da used the vine and harnessed its power to see what capabilities it had. It can heal but do massive amounts of damage at the same time. Then Raffa saw that one of the clippings was missing. The first thing that popped into his mind was Garith. Obviously he was jealous and mad at him he didn’t go to Gilden even though it wasn’t his fault. He had to warn him of its power, so now he wants to protect him from the vine.He asked his mum if she could send a message to him. She said she will but it will take a week. He wanted the message to be sent now. Just wow, Garith got his da to help him, he needs to chill out. Still he wanted the message sent quickly. So Raffa packed his stuff and set off to a journey to Gilden, putting himself in more danger than he already is in.This is a great book, filled with twists and turns. A very suspenseful story that makes you read the story twice with characters you can’t forget. It is an exciting book with action here and there, like a storm.

Raffa is a gifted young pother (apothecary), learning about botanicals from his parents and his uncle. When he finds a badly injured bat, Raffa begs for permission to go into the Forest of Wonders to find a rare plant for a cure. He and his cousin are successful, but the consequences are startling ... and lead straight to much bigger problems. Shakes and quakes. Cousins and competition. Echo and ouch. Runaways and garrisons. Greenhouses and scarecrows. Salves and cinders. The Wing & Claw world is fascinating, and I enjoyed Park's mingling and muddling of familiar words to set the tone. I'll be adding this series to my home shelf. Raises questions about animal rights, experimentation, cruelty, etc.

I hate to admit to it, but quite often I pick books entirely on cover, and this one just looks good. I love stories about animals, and this one has quite a few to catch my eye. The beginning of the book was probably better than the ending, if only because I dislike a first book that gives no real information as to why it exists in the first place. It leaves a bit of a bad taste in what was otherwise enjoyable.What I really liked about this book was the characters. Raffa was especially likable, with his bat Echo, although the rest grew on me by the end. I'm sure if I read book two I will find out more about them.A fun read for middle grade and above. Four stars.

This is an enchanting adventure that kids are sure to love. There is magic, talking animals, danger, friendship, and by the end Raffa realizes that choices (and people) are not always what they seem to be. The plot is unresolved at the end (which makes sense because this is a trilogy), but all three books are already released so it's easy to continue with Raffa's adventure. Highly recommended to students in grades 4 and up, fans of fantasy, magic, and adventure. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job.

The bat was adorable, and Raffa made very smart decisions for his age in the book. Overall it is a very interesting concept and I look forward to continuing this series!

Intermediate, fantasy, dystopian

I thought this book was really good because it had magical plants that could heal, poison and stick to name a few potion abilities. My favorite part of the book was when Roo swatted the "sick" crows, I liked that part because I could really picture the huge friendly bear protecting kuma and Raffa from the crows trying to peck out their eyes. The characters had weird names like Raffa, Kuma, and Garith. I also thought the little bat named Echo was so cute because he was like a small flying dog that could talk and hang upside down. I felt bad for the baby raccoons named Stick and Bando. I'm definitely going to read the next one!.

NGL, I just really love bats lol.

This book is so much more than simply apothecary mixtures and family. This book is about choices and decisions that will make an impact not only on the people but also the animals.I'm a big fan of Linda Sue Park and I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking to read about talking animals, friendships (will this be another 3-person friendship like so many other series?), and standing up for what one believes is right.

Linda Sue Park has been writing wonderful books for a long time and this one will rank among her best. Forest of Wonders is a fabulous mix of fantasy, magic, and adventure. Main character Raffa is a gifted apothecary who is far exceeding his father's skill due to a heavy dose of magical ability that is only beginning to develop. That bit of magic leads him to major mishaps as well as opens doors to opportunity the likes of which his poor family has never seen. Along the way, Raffa makes, loses and refinds friends and friendships and they all work together to save the creatures of the Forest of Wonders that he loves. This librarian would highly recommend the Wing & Claw series to readers of fantasy in grades 4-8, although the length and reading level may be off-putting for the younger in that group.

This book seemed like a great start to an amazing series, but it was a little anticlimactic. Almost as if half of the book is missing since it ends at the beginning of our next heroes adventure.

I loved this book its funny and well crafted