Courtesy of canny marketing and the J.K. Rowling Effect, too many children's books are being lauded as "magical" even when they're short on the magic. Cat Weatherill's debut novel, "Barkbelly," is one of them.
Barkbelly is a wooden boy. He hatches from a wooden egg and grows up super-fast (as all wooden boys do, apparently) in the little town of Pumbleditch. Here, he forgets -- though never totally -- that he is an outsider. But when a terrible accident happens, everyone blames Barkbelly. He flees in search of a home where he truly belongs.