Ad lit.org: Reading Discussion Guide: Beyond the Deepwoods

Young Twig is different. Raised by a woodtroll family since infancy, he's never fit in at home, in his village, or at school. As he approaches his 14th birthday, he learns the circumstances of his beginnings: how he was abandoned by his natural parents and taken in and raised as a woodtroll. His loving mother, Spelda, sends Twig out into the Deepwoods to begin his adult life. Against Spelda's instructions, Twig strays from the path and becomes lost in the Deepwoods, utterly alone and vulnerable. Despite the odds, Twig not only learns to survive on his own, but begins to understand where his true destiny lies.