Book excerpt: A spellbinding tale about a girl, the Thickety, and the power of magic. Fans of Neil Gaiman will love this thrilling world. A dark, forbidden forest. Vicious beasts. Deadly plants. An evil spellbook. Secrets. Mysteries. Witches, both good and bad . . . Welcome to the world of the Thickety. Full of action, set in an intriguing and dangerous world, and illustrated with gorgeous and haunting line art, The Thickety: A Path Begins is a truly stunning book. A Path Begins is the thrilling start of a middle grade fantasy series about a girl, a mysterious forest, and a book of untold magical powers. Kara and her brother, Taff, are shunned by their village because their mother was a witch. The villagers believe nothing is more evil than magic, except for what lurks in the nearby Thickety. But when Kara enters the forbidden forest, she discovers a strange book, a grimoire that might have belonged to her mother. The events she then sets in motion are both awe-inspiring and terrifying. And that is just the beginning of the story—there are three more adventures in the Thickety to explore after this first book in the series. Publishers Weekly Best Book IndieBound Indie Next List Publishers Weekly Flying Start Amazon's Big Spring Books Washington Post Summer Book Club