The Secrets of Underhill

An 11-year-old arborist's apprentice fights to save an ancient grove of magical trees that hold the key to her community's survival. This immersive fantasy adventure combines vivid world-building with timely themes of environmentalism is perfect for middle grade readers of Kelly Barnhill and Jessica Townsend. Nick Sixsmith has spent her whole life on the road. The daughter of a traveling arborist, she and her mother move from town to town, caring for the ironwood groves the communities rely upon. When a dangerous blight takes hold of these magical trees, they must journey to the city of Mistwood--her mother's hometown--for answers. Nick can't wait to explore the prosperous city of Mistwood and all it has to offer: the bustling markets and workshops, neighborhoods built under a roaring waterfall, and the vast ancestral grove of ironwood trees. But dark secrets simmer beneath the surface as people start to disappear, and tensions rise in the city. As the mystery grows, Nick and her new friends must follow the trail where it leads them: underground, to a strange, enchanting world called Underhill. Only then, among the roots of ancestral grove, will Nick find a way to save her new home and the ironwood trees. Riveting and atmospheric, readers will be immersed until the final page.