Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	The Green Man, Tales from the Mythic Wood
	Author:	Datlow, Ellen
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	7 - 12
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Notes:
Short Stories

Booktalk:
Charlie was in! He'd been accepted to the university. His parents were so proud. He should have been happy. But ever since his sister Celia had disappeared on the night before her fifth birthday, Charlie had tried to make up for the emptiness of the house by expanding, recreating himself, stretching himself into every corner of his parents' lives. Trying to become two. It made him stronger, or so he thought. Now it was simply second nature. His parents had survived the loss because he had willed it. But, now...to leave them and the woods...and the tree where Celia had died, her oak tree...to leave them all behind seemed just...wrong. He walked through the woods to the oak. Once again, he would climb the branches high into the leafy canopy of the woods with the dusky fragrance reminding him of his sister's scent. Cradled in the tree he could remember her touch and imagine her face once more and...for just a moment...hold down the loneliness that gnawed at him. But, now the future was intruding. Charlie reached the oak, climbed on a branch and then climbed higher and higher. If only he could stay... "Hey Charlie," he heard a husky voice above him. "Come away with us." Charlie nearly lost his footing. "Who is that? Who's up there?" "Come away, Charlie. You belong to us!" Higher and higher Charlie climbed...faster and faster..."That's it, Charlie, come away with us," said another voice. Then, he was at the top with only the sky above him. There were children all around him, their faces as brown as polished wood, their cheeks tattooed with whorls. "Where am I?' "The Greenwood." "Come away," said one girl who looked familiar. "...from the world and the sorrow that weighs on you." "For a while." "Whether you stay or not depends on you." And he did...