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Jonathan AuxierA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Kip and Alistair make their way across the yard, each distracting the Night Man when he gets too close to the other. Kip tells himself it’s like playing hide-and-seek, but really, it isn’t, because in this game, “getting caught [doesn’t] make you ‘it’—getting caught ma[kes] you dead” (327). When they are near the garden, the Night Man attacks, and Alistair grabs Kip to make a run for it.
At the house, Penny asks if Kip and Alistair will be all right, and while Molly wants to tell her a story to make her brave, she can’t because she now understands that “there [are] some things that stories [can’t] do” (329). Instead, Molly tells Penny honestly that she doesn’t know. Mr. Windsor notices the cannisters of oil that Kip put in the wagon earlier and decides to burn down the house in hopes that it will destroy the tree.
Kip and Alistair run toward the glowing garden, but the Night Man shrouds everything in pitch darkness, taking the light from the moon “and with it, their only hope” (333).
Molly drives the cart to the edge of the bridge and hands the reins to Penny, instructing her to snap them and keep running should anything go wrong. In response, Penny proclaims, “[M]ummy is my damsel. I will protect her with my very life” (335), making Molly proud. Back at the house, Mr. Windsor finishes pouring the oil on the tree’s roots and sets them aflame.
Kip and Alistair stumble through the darkness until they find themselves at the edge of a cliff overlooking the river. Suddenly, flames lick at the Night Man, and in the distance, Kip sees the fire that Mr. Windsor started. Knowing that he must keep the Night Man away from the house, Kip grabs the spirit and jumps off the cliff, “sending himself—and the Night Gardener—into the river below” (339).
The house burns, but the tree remains unharmed. Matches in hand, Molly charges inside to the room with the hole. A supernatural wind puts out the matches that she lights, and outside, the Night Man appears, drawing closer. As Molly watches, a burned promissory note enters the hole, and at once, she understands that “[t]he only things the tree would take in were its own gifts” (343).
Molly pulls the letters from her pocket and sets them on fire. With a final goodbye, she drops them into the hole. Far below, fire roars to life, and the Night Man crumbles into ash. Staring at the ashes, Molly is overcome with the truth that “they had fought the monster. And they had won” (345-46).
Molly scrambles out the window, escaping onto the roof, and jumps. Mr. Windsor catches her, and they run toward the cart, where they find Alistair cradling Kip’s limp body. Molly sinks to the ground with Kip in her arms and tells him a story about a special little boy and the sister who didn’t tell him the truth. Suddenly, Kip coughs and regains consciousness, asking what happens next.
The fire burns out near dawn, and life returns to the island, making it clear that the curse is finally gone. Penny and Alistair play in the grass, and Constance explains to Molly that they will build a new house, adding that there is room for Molly and Kip if they would like to stay. Molly is grateful but declines, saying, “Kip and me belong somewhere else...and it's my job to find that place” (351). Alistair gives Kip a new crutch that he fashioned, and Molly and Kip leave.
Kip stops the cart at the place they last saw Hester. Molly opens the package the woman gave them, finding a map with a red dot in one corner. They don’t have much food or money to get there, but Molly is sure that “there's more than a few folks willing to swap room and board for a good story” (356).
These final chapters contain the climactic sequence and the resolution of the novel. To increase the sense of urgency and desperation in the text, Auxier uses short, action-packed chapters that switch between Kip’s and Molly’s perspectives as the battle with the Night Man rages. When Kip yells “Catch as catch can” in Chapter 47, the taunt recalls the game of hide-and-seek from Chapter 14 and initiates the series of events leading to the novel’s climactic scene. However, Kip’s goal is not to defeat the Night Man; he wants only to distract the spirit long enough to help the Windsors escape. Then, he and Alistair will find a way to meet up with them on the other side of the bridge. The teamwork that Kip and Alistair employ in Chapter 48 is another turning point for the boys, for it stands as a sharp contrast to their earlier antagonism. The reversal also indicates that after what happened on the bridge, Alistair has now gained respect for Kip’s strength and leadership, and thus the boys can now seamlessly work together for the good of both their families. Merging their tactics, they manage to keep ahead of the Night Man. In fact, the ability of all the characters to come together and work collectively toward the tree’s destruction also highlights that the very nature of the supernatural curse was designed to divide people by appealing to their secret inner desires, pulling them into greater isolation from those around them. Because the destruction of the tree can only be accomplished with teamwork, it emphasizes that people are often stronger together than they are apart.
Chapter 49 also shows that Molly has learned the value of telling the truth, even when doing so is uncomfortable. Although she wants to tell a story (or a lie) so Penny will be less afraid, she finally understands that no story or lie will accomplish this task. As a result of Molly’s honesty, Penny realizes the seriousness of the situation, and thus the truth gives her more bravery than any lie or story could have. This chapter therefore symbolizes the power of telling the truth, even in the direst of circumstances. In addition, Chapter 49 shows Mr. Windsor finding his inner strength. Up until this point, he has been reluctant to take any action against the tree, both because of his fear of the Night Man and because of his desire to use the tree’s gifts to pay his debts. Realizing the existential danger that the tree poses to his family finally gives him the courage to set it on fire. He understands that his actions may do nothing, but he knows that even if he can only inflict a small amount of damage, it is worth it to help Kip and Alistair.
In this world fraught with magical realism, Chapters 50 through 52 make extensive allusions to common themes and tropes of fairy tales and folklore. In tales from across the world, the moon is often depicted as being a force of goodness within the dark of the night. For Kip and Alistair, the moon accordingly serves as a guiding light, and when that light is taken away, they find themselves hopelessly lost. Also, Penny’s declaration that her mother is a damsel that she will protect subverts the common trope of “damsels in distress,” for this time, instead of a knight rescuing the woman in danger, Penny herself is determined to act as her mother’s savior. This sudden determination also shifts Penny’s own role significantly, for throughout the book, she has thought of herself as Princess Penny. In fairy tales, princesses are often helpless characters who exist to be rescued. In this moment, however, Penny sheds her fairy-tale princess persona to become a brave hero in her own right. Her mother needs her to be brave, and the best way Penny knows to be brave is to be like the heroes in her storybooks. Penny’s bravery also demonstrates The Power of Storytelling and how we can learn from them. Similarly, in Chapter 52, Kip and Alistair find themselves cornered by the evil force, as heroes often do in the critical moments of fairy tales. The fire in the distance symbolizes a beacon of light and hope, and Kip is willing to sacrifice himself if it means everyone else can survive—the mark of a true storybook hero.
In Chapter 54, Molly makes her own sacrifice. Knowing that the tree will only take back what it has given, she realizes that the only way to set fire to the tree is to destroy the letters. Although she knows the letters aren’t really from her parents, destroying them is painful because it feels like she is giving up on the idea that her parents might have survived. The tree accepts the letters even though they are on fire, which suggests that it views its gifts as an extension of itself. Thus, the burning letters become the vehicle of destruction for the tree itself. In the latter half of the chapter, Molly is doubly struck by Kip’s still form because she just sacrificed the last connection she had to her parents. Losing both the letters and her brother in one night would be too much for her to bear. The story she tells his lifeless form serves as an apology to her brother and, in the quasi-magical world of the novel, as a way to call him back to life. It also serves to demonstrate The Power of Storytelling in the most dramatic way possible, for Kip revives because he cannot die without knowing what happens next.
In the novel’s conclusion, the final chapters speak to the power of endings as new beginnings. While Constance’s offer of continued hospitality is kind, Molly understands that the part of the Windsor story that includes her and Kip is now over. The Windsors need to move on as a family, and they cannot truly rebuild their lives if there are others there to remind them of the horrors they have recently survived. Similarly, Molly and Kip need to rebuild their family and create a new life for themselves: a fresh start, even though it’s just the two of them against the world. Without their parents, both siblings feel the need to keep moving until the time is right for them to stop. Thus, the title of Chapter 56 (“Storyteller at the Crossroads”) mirrors that of Chapter 1 and literally brings the narrative full circle. In Chapter 1, Hester was the storyteller at the crossroads, and Molly feared her because Hester possessed the self-assuredness and confidence that Molly had yet to find. In Chapter 56, Molly has become the storyteller, and she is comfortable with herself because the events at the Windsor house have helped her to grow into a more confident, responsible person who has fully taken control of her own life’s journey. Accordingly, the map that Hester leaves the siblings symbolizes that their real journey is just beginning, and thus they set out together without a definite destination, knowing that their destination is unimportant as long as they are together.
By Jonathan Auxier
Action & Adventure Reads (Middle Grade)
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Brothers & Sisters
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Canadian Literature
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Class
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Class
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Coping with Death
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Grief
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Juvenile Literature
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New York Times Best Sellers
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Religion & Spirituality
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Truth & Lies
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