JOHN STEPHENS is also the author of The Emerald Atlas, the first installment in the Books of Beginning trilogy. He spent ten years working in television and was executive producer of Gossip Girl and a writer for Gilmore Girls and The O.C.
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, October 8, 2012:
"Fans of The Emerald Atlas will find much to love: the
adventure-driven plot, a scattering of deliciously scary moments,
and Stephens's offbeat take on Tolkienesque dragons, dwarves, and
elves are sure to delight." Starred Review, School Library Journal,
October 1, 2012:
"Fans of the first book won't be disappointed, and will eagerly
anticipate the next one. The Emerald Atlas was very good. This one
is even better." Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1,
2012:
"Irreverent humor and swashbuckling adventure collide in a fetching
fantasy." From the Hardcover edition.
Gr 4-7-Fifteen-year-old Kate, almost 13-year-old Michael, and 12-year-old Emma don't know why Dr. Pym sent them back to the dreadful orphanage at the end of The Emerald Atlas (Knopf, 2011), but Kate, who learned to control the power of the Atlas to travel through time, knows they need to leave as soon as possible. In the first chapter of Chronicle, a monstrous Screecher attacks, and Kate lures it into the past at the exact moment Dr. Pym appears to retrieve Michael and Emma. While Kate deals with the Dickensian world of 1899 New York on the eve of Separation, when the magical and mundane worlds will split for good, Michael, Emma, and Pym search for information about the other two books in a variety of unlikely places. This is a roller-coaster ride of a story, which includes old friends and new, a visit to Antarctica, the rescue of an Elf Princess (who is sometimes a dragon), a touch of doomed romance, a generous leavening of humor, life, death, betrayal, and (just a warning) a nasty little cliff-hanger of an ending. It is really Michael's story-he deals with unimaginable challenges with humor, courage, and insight. Knowledge of the first book is suggested; readers who start with this one will definitely want to backtrack. Fans of the first book won't be disappointed, and will eagerly anticipate the next one. The Emerald Atlas was very good. This one is even better.-Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
In the exciting second installment of Stephens's Books of Beginning trilogy-even stronger than The Emerald Atlas-siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma flee the Edgar Allan Poe Home for Hopeless and Incorrigible Orphans with the evil forces of the Dire Magus at their heels. Fifteen-year-old Kate, carrying the Emerald Atlas she rescued in book one, travels through time to a magical version of 19th-century New York City where she falls for a heroic young man named Rafe, only to discover the dark destiny that awaits him. Younger siblings Michael and Emma, reunited at least momentarily with their eccentric wizard guardian, Dr. Pym, learn they must fly to southernmost South America and beyond to recover the legendary Fire Chronicle. Fans of The Emerald Atlas will find much to love: the adventure-driven plot, a scattering of deliciously scary moments, and Stephens's offbeat take on Tolkienesque dragons, dwarves, and elves ("The boy elves wore stiff-brimmed straw hats. The girl elves twirled parasols on their dainty shoulders. A few of the elves carried wooden tennis rackets") are sure to delight. Ages 8-12. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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