Shelf Awareness--The Worlds We Leave Behind

MG Review: The Worlds We Leave Behind

The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illus. by Levi Pinfold (Bloomsbury, hardcover, 256p., ages 8-12, 9781547610952)

A.F. Harrold and Levi Pinfold's second collaboration (after The Song from Somewhere Else) is a beautifully formed illustrated novel that is grounded in the everyday, then elegantly spirals into the unknown. The Worlds We Leave Behind is a surreal commentary on forgiveness, revenge and the interconnectedness of humankind.

It all goes wrong the morning Sascha, younger and uninvited, follows best mates Hex and Tommo into the woods. The boys take turns on a rope swing and when it's Sascha's turn, there's a mud-clod fight, a stone is thrown and Sascha loses her grip on the swing. In a slow-motion moment that "the world pause[s] to watch," she falls and breaks her arm. The next day, Hex returns to the swing. Sascha's sister, Maria, punches him and, "bruising with humiliation and shock," he runs deeper into the forest. There a "small, bright jolly-looking woman" offers him revenge: if Hex crushes an acorn, the girl who hit him will "be gone, as if they'd never been." Hex takes the acorn home and loses it. But, unbeknownst to Hex, Maria was also given an acorn which she ground to bits. While the world reshapes around the absence of Hex, Maria learns what it means to make someone disappear.

Harrold's wonderfully crafted, mesmerizing text unfolds through different points of view, the chain of voices echoing the ripples of the ever-evolving world. Pinfold's meticulous and enchanting black-and-white illustrations blend perfectly with and enhance the brooding, otherworldly atmosphere of the text. This sophisticated novel exists in a delightfully dark place between fairy tale, horror and science fiction, and opens up a fascinating world of what-ifs. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author.