Colin Meloy to Publish Children's Book Series Via HarperCollins

Considering how littered with corpses Colin Meloy’s songs for the Decemberists tend to be, it’s rather difficult to imagine him releasing a kid-friendly book series. That’s just what he’s been threatening to do since some time in 2007, though, and last year’s promise that he and his wife, illustrator Carson Ellis had partnered with Portland’s Stumptown Printers to release The Unfortunate Demise of Whitley Rackham has yet to come to fruition. Now, HarperCollins Publishers have entered the fray, picking up another series from Meloy and Ellis, a trilogy aimed at middle school audiences entitled Wildwood.

An adventure series set in an alternate version of modern-day Portland, Wildwood is described in its press materials as “nothing less than an American Narnia.” The project has been a long time coming for the couple. “Wildwood is a project very close to my heart — the collaboration that Colin and I have been dreaming about for years.”

Look for the first book in the series in the fall of 2011.

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