Welcome to Woundabout, where routine rules, and change is feared. But transformation is blowing in the wind…

In the wake of tragedy, siblings Connor and Cordelia with their pet capybara are sent to the precariously perched town of Woundabout to live with their eccentric aunt. Woundabout is a place where the mayor has declared that routine rules above all, and no one is allowed to ask questions.
But Connor and Cordelia can’t help their curiosity when they discover a strange crank that mysteriously fits into certain parts of town, and by winding the crank, part of the town is transformed into something beautiful. When the townspeople see this transformation, they don’t see beauty, they only see change. And change, the Mayor says, is something to fear. With the Mayor hot on their trail, can Connor and Cordelia find a way to wind Woundabout back to life?

Lev AC Rosen is the author of the critically acclaimed ALL MEN OF GENIUS (Tor, 2011), which was an Amazon best of the month, on over a dozen best of the year lists, and has been nominated for multiple awards. His middle grade novel, WOUNDABOUT, will be published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers in Summer 2015. His post-apocalyptic noir novel DEPTH will also be published in Spring 2015 with Regan Arts. His second middle grade novel, THE MEMORY WALL, will be published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in 2016. He received his BA from Oberlin College and his MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Lev teaches creative writing and lives in Manhattan.

Ellis Rosen’s illustrations can be seen at EllisRosen.com.

Publishers Weekly
Recently orphaned when their fathers—who trained bomb-sniffing capybaras—were killed in an explosion, siblings Connor, 11, and Cordelia, nine, have no relatives except their Aunt Marigold, who they have never met. When they arrive in the town of Woundabout, along with a surviving capybara, Connor and Cordelia discover that their aunt’s home is just as “weird” as their fathers had hinted—the town has no Internet service, the mayor doesn’t allow questions, and everyone in Woundabout is expected to stick to a predictable daily routine. When the mayor’s prized artifact goes missing, Cordelia and Connor decide to track it down. With the help of a boy named Nico, they begin to uncover the truth behind Woundabout’s origins and strange traditions in a fairy tale–like novel that weaves a gentle spell as it builds to a dramatic, satisfying conclusion. Lev Rosen (All Men of Genius) sensitively addresses change, growth, and painful emotions like grief, while Ellis Rosen’s b&w illustrations are alternately haunting, comedic, and poignant, in keeping with the overall tone of the story.