Teo and the Banyan Tree (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798985909562)

A Ghibli-esque cozy fantasy about a boy's trip to the afterlife.

Ten-year-old Koda has no possessions except for his father's urn. When his train derails, he loses even that and is knocked unconscious. He later wakes in a strange land of talking animals and enchanted rivers-the spirit world. While exploring, he encounters a feral boy named Teo, who convinces Koda to follow him to the mythical Banyan tree.

But the spirit world is sick. A demon named Mahuut has corrupted the Banyan, the ancient guardians have all been petrified, and lonely spirits have forgotten their names. Most troubling of all, the wild boy named Teo is not who he seems. Now, Koda must uncover uncomfortable truths about the lost spirits, the ravening demon, and the mysterious boy. To do that, he will have to come to terms with his father's death-and perhaps his own.

An enchanting story, Teo and the Banyan Tree is about the humanity of a failed father and an abandoned son, who find one another again in death.