Dusty in the Outwilds by Rhiannon Williams is a middle grade story chosen for the Notables list in the Children’s Book Council Awards for 2023, in the Younger Readers (7-12) category.
12 year old Dusty doesn’t know much about her father’s sister Meg, only that she ran away “out wild” when she was 13. When Dusty, her best friend Gus and his little sister Nico set off into the bush to find Meg, what they find instead is an incredible jungle world full of fantastical creatures at the end of a staircase inside a tree. Little do they know, the secrets they uncover there may just force her family to face some buried truths….
This story is a beautiful middle grade read for the young and anyone who remembers what it’s like to be young!
The novel has much more depth than being just a simple thrilling and magical adventure tale. While it is those things, it also depicts very well that threshold age of 12 – starting to outgrow childhood and unsure what comes next. There are a lot of complex family and friendship relationships depicted with nuance, and even the seeming “villains” are characterised as whole, full and complex human beings. There is an underlying theme of grief that is quite sad but well handled. I liked how well the story portrayed that realisation you start to come to at this age, that adults don’t actually always have the right answers or make the right choices, that they’re complex and full of emotions and doubt, not just the big magical beings who fix everything, as they can seem in childhood.
I would describe it as an adventure story with magical realism. The “Outwilds” beneath the tree are full of fantasy creatures, yet “fantasy” doesn’t quite fit right as a genre. After a couple of chapters set up, once in the jungle the pace moves at a solid clip with chapter cliffhangers that keep you reading. I can absolutely see this being an engaging read for the target 9-12 readership. I think it would have wide appeal across all genders and interests.
Beautiful black and white drawings are interspersed throughout the text which also adds to the whimsy of the story.
Overall this book had a lot more to it than I was expecting, and I’d recommend it not only for the target age group, but to anyone wanting a fairly easy but still heartfelt and magical read.
If you enjoy Dusty in the Outwilds, you may also like to check out the author’s first books, the Narroway trilogy.
(It was recently released with new covers – you will find both versions in our libraries!)
