Between

by Jean Thesman

While staying with family friends at their hotel on the edge of Puget Sound, Charlotte Thacker discovers that the nearby forest called Darkwood is actually a mystical home to griffins, unicorns, dragons, and wyverns, and her adopted brother Will, who is actually an otherworldly Fair One, is the only one who can save Darkwood from being destroyed.

198 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 2002

About the author

Jean Thesman was a widely read and award-winning American author known for her young adult fiction, with a career spanning over 25 years. Her novels often explored themes of family, identity, and belonging, frequently featuring heroines who find their place in the world by uncovering truths about their families and forming chosen connections. “I loved telling the story,” she once wrote, “because I really believed that families were made up of the people you wanted, not the people you were stuck with.”
Born with a passion for storytelling and literacy, she learned to read before starting school and recalled having to wait until she was six years old before being allowed her first library card. Throughout her career, she authored around 40 books, most under her own name but a few under the pseudonym T.J. Bradstreet.
Thesman published a wide range of novels for teens and middle-grade readers, including stand-alone works such as The Rain Catchers, Calling the Swan, and Cattail Moon, as well as series like The Whitney Cousins, The Birthday Girls, and The Elliott Cousins. Her lyrical style, emotional depth, and strong female characters earned her a loyal readership. Notable works like The Ornament Tree and In the House of the Queen’s Beasts remain particularly admired for their nuanced storytelling and emotional resonance.
She was a longtime resident of Washington state and an active member of The Authors Guild and the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Jean Thesman passed away in 2016 at the age of 86, leaving behind a significant legacy in young adult literature.

Reviews

[Kayleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Thesman's The Other Ones is one of my favorite novels. I was looking through her list of books and this one sounded good so I checked it out of at my library. I love how the first part of each chapter begins with the point of view of the forest creatures, if it wasn't like this there would be a lot of information that the reader would not know, and the her blend of words were amazing. Then there is the other part, the observation of the Mudwalkers; the humans. I didn't like this part as much, most of the time the people were annoying, but it wasn't too terrible. I liked that she based it in beginning of World War 1 (I think, but now can't remember if it was WW1 or WW2), it was very original and refreshing. The ending was ok, she could actually do another book if she wanted to.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another take on the world of fairies, set during WWII. I didn't feel this was as well developed as I would have wanted, though the premise was good. I also have a difficult time with poor editing. This wasn't just misspelling, but character names used when the author could not possibly mean that person and "she" used once for the main character when this is a first person story. When I catch those types of mistakes, it fuels my desire to be a copy editor.

[Savannah Barnhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a lot of build up and I enjoyed reading it, but the ending felt very rushed. It was really disappointing. Over all it wasn’t a bad short read, but it definitely could’ve been drawn out and a lot more detailed.

[Mecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise is so very intriguing, but the book, characters, plot, drsciotion is so very thin.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Between by Jean Thesman tells the story of Charlotte Thacker and her siblings being sent to stay with family friends. Charlotte realizes something disturbing about Gull Walk. That she thinks it's affecting her younger adopted brother. After several other odd incidents, she concludes that something in the nearby woods threatens Will—and that the owners of the guesthouse, along with a pair of unpleasant guests, know more than they’re telling about it. As it turns out, the unicorns, dragon, shape-shifting Fox Fairy, and other beings tied to the Darkwood have identified Will as an orphaned child of the Fair Folk, a potentially powerful ally against humans, dubbed “Mudwalkers,” who were created long ago as playthings by a malicious Chimera, but then escaped to conduct a campaign of destruction of the world’s forests. Overall, I thought the book was decent.

[Shelley Chastagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read for those who love mythical creatures.

[Kristen Landon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my thing at this point in my life.