Willodeen

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-8

Part 1, Chapters 9-11

Part 2, Chapters 12-16

Part 2, Chapters 17-19

Part 3, Chapters 20-23

Part 3, Chapters 24-27

Part 4, Chapters 28-32

Part 4, Chapters 33-36

Parts 4-5, Chapters 37-41

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Part 1, Chapters 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary

Willodeen bumps into Connor Burke, a boy from town who makes animal likenesses out of weeds and grasses. She tells him about Sir Zurt and, overcome with guilt, she heads back into the woods to look for the screecher. Connor offers to join her as he has a lantern, and it will be dark soon. Willodeen is reluctant until Duuzuu clambers out of her pocket and onto Connor’s shoulder, which finally makes her agree. The group finds Sir Zurt dead, and Willodeen buries the body as best she can. The entire way back to town, the refrain “he was the last, the last, the last” repeats in her head (45).

Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary

On her way home, Willodeen passes through the village center, where people are setting up for the fall fair. By this time, there are usually at least a few hummingbears in Perchance, but none have arrived yet this year. People make fun of Willodeen because she smells like a screecher, but she ignores them and hurries to the cottage where she lives with Mae and Birdie, the women who adopted her after her family died in the fire.

Though Willodeen has lived there for years, she can’t bear to think of it as home because it makes her miss her old home and family too much. She hates thinking about what she lost, so she pushes the hurt of losing her family and Sir Zurt down, telling herself that “pain was best packed away” (49). Inside the cottage, Mae and Birdie comment on the smell, which makes Willodeen burst into tears. The women envelop her in a hug, which feels good despite Willodeen feeling that they’re not her real family.

Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary

Though Mae and Birdie are good to Willodeen, she tries not to get too attached to them, fearful she might lose them too. That night, Willodeen goes to bed as soon as she finishes her chores, but she can’t sleep because she keeps picturing the fire that took her family. She looks back through her journals and realizes she hasn’t heard a screecher night call in almost a year. Reading her journals helps her fall asleep, and she dreams about the screecher call. It wakes her, and she hopefully listens for a moment before understanding that “the world was still quiet” (57).

Part 1, Chapters 9-11 Analysis

These chapters further the novel’s world-building and characterization. Willodeen reluctantly pairs up with Connor to search for Sir Zurt because Connor has a lantern, something she’ll need as darkness falls. Though Willodeen generally avoids other people, she finds that searching at Connor’s side isn’t as bad as she feared. This foreshadows how she will become more comfortable with people as the story progresses. Duuzuu takes an instant liking to Connor, which signifies to Willodeen and the reader that Connor is compassionate and worth trusting. Duuzuu’s connection to Connor helps Willodeen form a friendship with him, and it foreshadows Duuzuu eventually going to live with Connor at the story’s end.

Mae and Birdie are the women who adopted Willodeen after the fire. Though Willodeen doesn’t want to get too close to them, Mae and Birdie seem to consider Willodeen a daughter and care for her as their own. This shows that the path for Willodeen and the women becoming a family is already laid out for Willodeen to follow. Willodeen’s belief that pain should be packed down shows that she isn’t yet ready to change. She is still afraid of emotions and memories, and she believes feeling and remembering will destroy the fragile hold she has on herself. Her tears in Chapter 10 show that, despite her dislike of emotions, she has them, and she can’t fully hide them. The tears also reveal that she feels safe with Birdie and Mae, even if she doesn’t yet know it. Willodeen’s developing relationship with Birdie and Mae represents the value of chosen family and unconventional family structures, emphasizing that All Identities are Valid and that even though Change is Inevitable, she doesn’t need to endure it alone.