73 pages • 2 hours read
John ConnollyThe Book of Lost Things
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 7-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Of the Woodsman and the Work of His Ax”
David finds himself inside a tree trunk within a half-lit forest. He rolls out of the way as the tree spits out the burning German plane. David takes in his surroundings. He notices strange flowers that have childlike faces, along with unpleasant smells in the forest. He comes upon a decapitated animal wearing clothes, and the shocking sight of the corpse causes David to turn back to the tree he came from. However, the gap back to the sunken garden closes before his eyes. As David attempts to reopen the passage using a rock to chip away at the tree, a tall man with an ax approaches. He introduces himself as the Woodsman and asks David how he came to the forest world. The Woodsman marks David’s tree with a piece of twine and an odorous substance to keep animals from chewing the twine. He warns David that dangerous creatures living in the woods are drawing near, puts David on his back, and begins to run for safety as a distant howl fills the air.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Of Wolves, and Worse-Than-Wolves”
As the Woodsman runs, David feels frightened, and can hear creatures pursuing them. Just as they reach the Woodsman’s cottage, a creature that is half wolf and half man confronts them. The wolf stands on its hind legs and wears clothing, and David can see self-awareness as well as hunger in the wolf-man’s eyes. The Woodsman slips the key to his cottage into David’s pocket and begins to speak to the wolf-man. They discuss the changes present in the kingdom, and the wolf-man reveals he plans to take over the kingdom and rule as king. The Woodsman protects David from the wolf-man and his pack of hungry wolves. David realizes that the wolf-man struggles to control his animal instincts, while the lower wolves are so hungry that they are willing to eat one another for survival. Just as the wolf-man and his followers advance towards David and the Woodsman, David turns to the door and begins to unlock it. Meanwhile, a piece of ivy in a nearby tree coils around a wolf’s neck and begins choking it. The forest comes alive as the ivy and wolves begin to battle, and David and the Woodsman enter the safety of the cottage.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Of the Loups and How They Came into Being”
The Woodsman informs David that the king of the land is growing weaker, and as a result, dangerous creatures, such as the wolves, threaten the natural order of this world. The wolf-men are called Loups, and their leader, who the Woodsman spoke to outside the cottage, is named Leroi. The Woodsman tells David the tale of how the Loups came into being. There once was a girl in a red cloak who would walk to her grandmother’s forest cottage. One day when she walked in the woods, she met a wolf and fell in love with its strangeness. She pursued it through the woods, seduced it, and lay with it. She then gave birth to the first of the Loups, Leroi.
The Woodsman gives David some clothing and shoes to replace his torn pajamas and slippers, and as they eat dinner, he tells David about the trickster in the kingdom who is feared by all, even the king. David realizes that the trickster the Woodsman describes is the Crooked Man he saw in his bedroom.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Of Tricksters and Trickery”
As David falls asleep in the Woodsman’s cottage, he feels a mixture of emotions. While he feels fear about his strange new surroundings and regret for entering this other world, he still feels curious about the sound of his mother’s voice and thinks he must at least try to find her before returning home. He also wonders whether Rose and his father are missing him or simply carrying on with their lives.
After breakfast the next morning, David begins to perform his routines as usual, and the Woodsman asks about them. The Woodsman suggests that David trade in his meaningless rituals for routines that serve a purpose and bring satisfaction.
The Woodsman tells David he cannot protect David, so he must return to his world. However, when they reach the glade of trees where David entered this strange world, all the trees are marked with twine and the foul-smelling substance. The Woodsman muses that this must be the handiwork of the trickster, the Crooked Man. Since they have no way of knowing which tree David came through, the Woodsman suggests that the king might know a way back to David’s world. He has a special book called the Book of Lost Things that he turns to for guidance, and the book might have information about how to return. The Woodsman leaves the bag containing David’s torn pajamas in the bushes, and they begin their long journey to the king. Once they leave, the Crooked Man comes out of hiding and takes the bag containing David’s clothes.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Of the Children Lost in the Forest and What Befell Them”
The Woodsman gives David a sword, and as they walk through the woods, David asks about the strange, childlike flowers that grow along their path. The Woodsman explains that the flowers are monuments to lost children. When children die in the forest, the flowers come up as a way for the forest to remember them. The Woodsman also explains how the Loups have changed the natural behavior of wolf packs. Rather than small packs living and hunting in a territory, one large pack has been formed under the rule of the Loups.
Further along their journey, they pass an abandoned house in a state of disrepair. As they walk near it, David realizes the house is made of chocolate and gingerbread, and the Woodsman tells him a story. A brother and sister were abandoned in the woods and had to fend for themselves to survive. The sister rose to the challenge and provided food for both of them, while the brother did not adjust to their new life in the woods. One day, the children came upon a gingerbread house in the woods, ate their fill, and fell asleep. When they woke, they were inside a cage in the house and an old woman was preparing to roast them in her oven and eat them. The sister tricked the old woman into climbing inside the oven, and the old woman died. The sister rescued her brother and embraced life in the forest. A year later, her brother left her and came upon a pretty house in the woods and a woman who reminded him of his mother. Making the same mistake as he did with the gingerbread house, he was enticed by the woman and her lovely house and was never heard from again.
Chapters 7-11 Analysis
When David crosses over into the forest, death confronts him from all sides. He sees the skeleton of the German pilot burning inside the plane’s remnants and uncovers a recently decapitated Loup on the forest floor. These upfront encounters with death show the dangerous nature of this new world, which he calls Elsewhere. They remind David and the reader that confronting and accepting death is an essential part of life. Even though David knows in his mind that his mother is dead, part of him still holds on to hope that she might be alive, and this thought keeps him from returning to his own world. Connolly’s recurring mentions of mortality through plot events contribute to David’s eventual acceptance of his mother’s death.
Connolly continues to develop the nature motif as he personifies nature in Elsewhere. Here, David finds that the trees bleed when injured, and the ivy comes alive to fight the wolves and Loups in defense of the forest caretaker, the Woodsman. The forest also marks the loss of a child with flowers, suggesting that nature has feelings. Finally, the natural order has been thrown off balance because of the Loups. The Woodsman explains that the woods have become increasingly dangerous because of creatures like the Loups, who have recently come into being. Connolly’s personification of nature in these chapters shows the strange and complex character of this new world David has entered.
Connolly also begins to develop a major theme of the novel: David’s transformation from a child into an adult. When he first enters the forest world, he is clearly a child. He fights back tears when his passage through the tree trunk closes, is carried on the Woodsman’s back as a child would be and is still wearing his pajamas and slippers. However, spending time with the Woodsman leads to signs of maturity within David. The Woodsman provides him with clothes more suitable for navigating this other world, as well as a sword with which to defend himself. He teaches David to perform purposeful routines that bring satisfaction, rather than empty routines based on superstitions. The Woodsman treats David as a brave and responsible young man, and David takes gradual steps towards maturity.
