Warriors 3 – Forest of Secrets

Erin Hunter's Forest of Secrets is the third Warriors book, a wild-cat adventure for 10 year olds about a young warrior who is almost certain his own deputy is a murderer.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This one picks up mid-story. Fireheart was born a house cat and joined ThunderClan, and by now he's a warrior with a great deal of history behind him, most of it in the two books before this one.

It opens in deep snow. Prey is scarce, the river is frozen and Fireheart carries one mouse back to a fresh-kill pile that is pitifully small, hungry himself, because the Clan eats first. That's the warrior code and he won't break it.

What he'd like to break is Tigerclaw. The Clan deputy is huge, respected, an outstanding fighter, and Fireheart is sure he killed the deputy before him. He also stood and watched during the last battle while Fireheart fought for his life. Now he's going round hinting that Fireheart is the one who can't be trusted.

And Fireheart can't explain why he let a RiverClan warrior escape, because the warrior was Silverstream, and his best friend Graystripe is in love with her, and that breaks the code all on its own.

So the plan is to slip away after the full-moon Gathering, find Ravenpaw, who saw what really happened, and come back with something their leader will finally believe.

What makes these books so gripping is how completely worked out the world is. Four Clans, a truce at every full moon under four great oaks, warrior names, a medicine cat, ancestors who are also stars. Your reader will be saying leaf-bare and kittypet within a chapter and expecting you to keep up.

It isn't gentle, though. Cats fight with their claws out and the wounds get described. A former leader who murdered his own father is now blind and held prisoner in the ThunderClan camp. Death, secrets and betrayal are the engine of the thing, so a ten-year-old who loves animals but not peril may find this heavier going than the cover suggests.

What to read next

If they haven't met the Clans yet, start them on Into the Wild instead. That's where an ordinary house cat called Rusty first walks into the forest, and where most of what Fireheart is still trying to prove began.