Fast-paced friendship driven novel with appealing main characters. A solid read.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone has a story. In The Story Web, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, Alice's father has left but we don't know where he's gone or why.. Now Alice is questioning everything he ever told her. When Alice found an enormous web in the woods as a child, her Dad told her it was woven with everyone's stories and kept the world together. This now seems ridiculous...until animals start coming to Alice from the woods, and the strange girl from school tells her that unless Alice fixes the story web the world will end.

I loved how everyone's story took time to spin and reveal their truths and connections to other people's stories. I feel the author did a good job fleshing out Alice, Lewis, and Melanie's characters. I also liked the essential role animals played in the book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #TheStoryWeb

3 children - they could save the world. They just don't know it yet.
Alice is disappearing. Everyday since her father went away she has been losing more of herself. Because she blames herself. But she won't tell anyone...
Lewis wants to be a hero but everything has changed. Alice was his best friend but since her father left she won't talk to him.
Melanie lives with the witch. She wants to save the story web but needs help to do it. She needs Lewis and Alice.
They all need to tell their stories.
This was magical and thoughtful. I quite enjoyed it.

This is a wonderful middle grade novel that I really enjoyed as an adult. Alice has magical powers she is unaware of, she can see the story web. The story is that a magical spider, who was human at one time, adds a strand to the Story Web when a story is told truthfully. If a story is untold, told in a hurtful way or for a hurtful reason, or told falsely, the web will begin to disintegrate. When the web totally disintegrates, the world will freeze. The wild animals in the woods/forest are the protectors of the web. Alice is the key to saving the web, so the animals come to town looking for her. She needs help to save the web, help in the form of Lewis and Melanie. Alice has to tell her story, the story of how and why her father went away. Will this group of kids be able to save the web? Will Alice's father return to his family?

The story is told from three POVs. Alice, Lewis and Melanie. When Alice was five, she found a huge spider web in the woods, which her dad called a Story Web. He explained that each strand was a tale. When Alice's father leaves when she is 10, she no longer believes his stories and she goes through life being invisible. Lewis is a hockey player who used to be friends with Alice. Alice used to be the star goalie on her hometown hockey team, but she quit playing hockey and was no longer friends with Lewis. Melanie is the new kid in town and lives with her aunt. She likes to go up in the attic to think her big thoughts. She notices all animals come out of the woods and head in the same direction and wants to find out why. There are actually more POVs, as there are several from various animals throughout the story. This is a story about magic, stories, friendship, love, mental illness, PTSD and gossip. There are several wonderful messages in this book; working together, standing up for what is right, communication and listening to others and most important the impact of telling hurtful stories and untruths. Overall this is a wonderful story told in an enchanting way. With books and stories, hockey and friends all playing a big part, this is a book that has something for everyone. I definitely recommend this one to all public and school libraries.

This is a wonderful book, and as Goodreads says, truly would live comfortably next to the works of Katherine Applegate--one of my favorite middle-grade authors. It has that same melancholy truth of childhood pain with a brilliant, uplifting ending. 

The Story Web is told in alternating viewpoints between Alice, Lewis, Melanie, and the animals. The multiple POVs allow entry into the story for a variety of children--athletes and bookworms, popular kids and misfits, boys and girls. The alternating chapter headers clearly delineate when the story is told from a human perspective or from the eyes of the forest animals.  

It's a story of friendship, love, mental illness, PTSD and gossip, but told in an enchanting way. With a strong message of lifting each other up and listening to everyone's voice, this is a story with a deep message as well as being a highly entertaining read. It's richly woven with the complications of adult life that seep into childhood--conversations about mega-marts and industry, about the environment and the emotional health of the town, about mental illness and PTSD, and what makes a hero. It dissects the hero's journey while being a hero's journey--an irony I appreciated. It fosters a love of animals, of teamwork, and of story. (Also, hockey. My son will love the hockey bits as much as the animals.)

I am including this book in a donation to replace books lost in the recent Ohio tornados.
Thank you Net Galley, for a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and magical. I was drawn in from the beginning! A great story with a beautiful, important message.

I can’t wait to get this book into our school library. I know the kids will love it. It is a beautiful story that weaves between the different characters, connecting their lives through the threads of the story web. The web has the power to hold the entire world together, but when the web begins to fall apart, so does the community around it. Alice has to learn how to save the web before everything around her is lost. Words are powerful and the stories we tell are powerful. Alice and her friends, teach the importance of the kind of stories that we tell and how words can hurt or heal. She learns that she can’t do it alone. It takes truth, bravery, friendships, love and understanding to save the web and her community. I loved reading this book. Megan Frazer has such a talent for engaging her readers. I can’t wait to share it with my students.

I loved this book! It's an amazing combination of realistic and fantasy fiction about three kids trying to save the world with stories. It has action and adventure, people willing to risk everything to save the world, social issues like justice, war, bullying, friendship, and poverty. It has animals that are also trying to save the world by risking their lives to communicate with people about the dire emergency that's happening. This book is going to be terrific for anyone who works with middle grade students-the combination of story telling, story writing and story reading is a powerful one that the kids and their teachers are going to LOVE.

This was definitely an enjoyable and magical story that I believe many will like. Usually I love books with magic and mystery but for some reason this story just didn’t grab me like I had hoped. It was hard for me to get into in the beginning and I got a little confused with where the story was heading, But overall, I still think it was a entertaining story, just not for me.
Thank you Bloomsbury and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Blakemore's story, as a whole, is one with a good message--Be Brave, Be Bold, Be Fierce. No matter how much we may not think we need others, there are times when all you need are friends. The Story Web started way to slow for me and it seemed to drag on forever. There is a reader for every book, but I am not sure if I was the right reader for this book. I loved the ending and the strength that Alice found.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy.

Interest Level: 3-6

Do you believe that stories are magic? Do you think that stories can save the world? Alice used to believe in the power of stories until her dad had to go away because of something she did and now she doesn't believe in them anymore. Alice used to be the star goalie on her hometown's hockey team - but not anymore. Alice used to have best friends - but not anymore. Alice used to love stories - but not anymore. When Alice was very young her dad found her in front of The Story Web. He said that she was very special to be able to see the web. He used to read to her from the book The Story Web. The book has so many wonderful stories, but it is the preface that tells the true story. A magical spider (who actually used to be a human) weaves a web that stretches all across the world. As stories are told, the spiders weave the web and all is well with the world. But as stories are left untold, told falsely, and hurtful stories are told, the web begins to disintegrate. When the web is completely gone the world will freeze and be gone. The wild animals in the woods, the protectors of the web, begin coming into town because they know that Alice is the key to saving the web, but she can't do it alone - it will take a team. She needs her best friend, Lewis, and a new girl in town, Melanie, to help her. Can Alice save the web and herself by telling her story of how she made her dad go away? Will Alice work with Lewis and Melanie to save the web and the world? Will Alice's dad ever be able to come back to her and her mom? Read this amazing story to find out all of these answers!

Being a lover of stories myself, a book about stories is a dream come true! This book has so many positive messages but my favorite message is how we need to be careful about what we say about people. We do not need to weave untrue tales about people we don't know, people we don't understand, and people that are different than us. Being a librarian, my favorite quote in the book is, "I like to think of the stories as real, living things. When I read a story it flutters out, and each kid - each of you - takes the story and carries it with you." Do not miss this story of brave Alice who, in her story she wasn't a giant, but became larger than life by standing up in front of a town mob and defended those who couldn't defend themselves!!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

Oh, this book. Where to begin?

Admittedly, the odds were rather stacked against it. I tend to steer away from books where animals, sports, and school are major themes (nothing personal, I just like my fiction to veer towards stranger things). Yet THE STORY WEB hooked my attention from the first page and carried it all the way through. I devoured this book.

The three protagonists, Alice, Lewis, and Melanie, felt like real fifth graders. They were distinct, with their own complications and layers, and I enjoyed reading all of their chapters. The supporting cast of adults was equally well fleshed-out; Donny and Buzz and Henrietta and everyone, with all their various quirks and complexities. Though the setting was overall quite generic, there were also pockets of wonder, my favourite being the Museum (such a special place!)

The plot sounds simple: Alice and her friends must repair the unravelling Story Web before the world splinters into an event called the Freezing. It contains strong themes about truth, rumour, and the power of words, which I expected to come across as rather preachy. But despite the message, the novel never steps into a lesson on morality, instead exploring the in-between spaces of truth and lies. The threads of story are woven in beautifully, and I loved all the classical allusions! The subplot of Alice's father is especially poignant, giving a heartbreaking glimpse into the devastation of PTSD. But even there, Blakemore infuses hope into the situation, with her refrain of BE BRAVE, BE BOLD, BE FIERCE, often in unexpected ways.

So overall, yes, it's a total recommend from me. THE STORY WEB reads like a classic, and it's got all the makings of one: a girl who plays hockey, a man who tells stories, a boy with big dreams, and a strange family with kind hearts. 5/5