As the online pandemic school year wraps up, Clay is dreading summer with his increasingly irritated and irritating family members when he encounters Elphinore in the woods near his home. Unbeknown to Clay, the white elf-hound is part of the Royal Hunt of the People Under the Mountain. She wandered off to explore during a brief expedition into our world and was left behind when the other hounds and riders returned home. That the regal dog with the jeweled collar is magical becomes clear: Walking the woods with Elphinore, Clay (white) encounters other worlds. That’s how he meets Amos, an Owl Head boy; the two become friends despite the Owl People’s general distrust of humans. Eventually, Clay’s older sister, DiRossi, a miserable and angsty 14-year-old, and his younger sister, Juniper, join him and Elphinore on their encounters, and DiRossi finds the validation she didn’t know she needed from an ancient giant whose doom-and-gloom outlook comically matches her own. Their parents, meanwhile, preoccupied by financial worries, are vaguely bemused by the strange happenings in and around their house. When Amos reveals that the People of the Hunt want their rogue elf-hound back, the discovery poses a threat, and leaves both Clay and Elphinore with conflicted feelings. This fresh, inventive, funny story with occasional black and white illustrations features distinctive characters (human and otherwise), an original plot, and an arresting weaving of the magical world with our own. (Ages 8-11)