Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key

S. D. Smith's Jack Zulu and the Waylander's Key is a fantasy adventure for 10 year olds that starts on a baseball field in a small West Virginia town.

What happens

It's September 1984 in Myrtle, and Jack Zulu is nearly thirteen. He can hit a ball into the woods, and he loves the strange old books about elves and lost lands that Mr Wheeler saves for him. His dad came from South Africa and became the county's police chief, but he died years ago. Now his mum is in hospital and getting worse. Jack's plan is to get out of Myrtle and never look back.

His best friend Benny is the funniest thing in the book. He has a "hunger troll" that must be fed, he says "Mama mia" when he's nervous, and he tells his parents absolutely everything (even when he's sneaking out at three in the morning).

Mr Wheeler runs the bookshop and never quite answers a question. One evening he asks Jack to guard a carved wooden box, then rushes off. Inside is a silver thing with Latin on it. It sets Jack's trousers on fire, in the pizza place, right in front of Michelle, the girl he can never talk to. (Poor Jack!)

After that comes a phone call that cuts off, a message about the "witching hour" and a walk into the ancient woods at 3am with a baseball bat. Waiting there is a huge winged creature with a war hammer. It wants the key to Wayland's gate.

The 1980s feel is great fun, all Walkmans, jukeboxes and "video movies". It swings between goofy and serious in a way that works. You laugh at Jack and Benny spinning on their stools, then Jack stands alone in his quiet house looking at his parents' photos.

Please do check this one first if your family is going through a serious illness. Jack's mum is dying and he knows it, and he's already lost his dad. The book is gentle about it, but it's there on nearly every page. The creature in the woods is genuinely frightening too, and the book opens with a villain boasting about the guard he killed.

For a reader who loves an ordinary kid who stumbles into another world, and who can cope with some sadness along the way, it's a real treat.

What to read next

If they like the idea of an old man guarding a secret way into another world, try Impossible Creatures. Christopher's grandfather has one rule, never go past the trees on the hill behind the house, and the hill turns out to be hiding a lot more than a view.