Dormia by Jake Halpern

Dormia by Jake Halpern

Introducing Alfonso Perplexon, hero of the epic fantasy tale Dormia!

Alfonso Perplexon is an unusual sleeper. He climbs trees, raises falcons, even shoots deadly accurate arrows, all in his sleep. No one can figure out why.
Then one evening a man arrives at Alfonso's door, claiming to be Alfonso's long-lost uncle Hill. This uncle tells a fantastical tale: Alfonso's ancestors hail from Dormia--an ancient kingdom of gifted sleepers--which is hidden in the snowy peaks of the Ural Mountains. According to Hill, Dormia exists thanks to a tree known as the Founding Tree, with roots that pump life into the frozen valley. But the Founding Tree is now dying, and in a matter of days, Dormia faces an icy apocalypse.
Dormia's salvation lies with the Great Sleeper, who possesses the special powers to enter a sleep trance and grow a new Founding Tree. Hill suspects that Alfonso is just such a person. In fact, Alfonso's sleeping-self has already hatched this tree. Now the question is: Can Alfonso and his uncle deliver it in time? They must hurry, but they also must be careful not to be followed by Dormia's age-old enemy, the Dragoonya, who are always hunting for one of the secret entryways into Dormia.
Alfonso agrees to take the tree to Dormia, and thus begins one of the greatest adventures a twelve-year-old boy could ever wish for.

As he woke up from a late afternoon nap, Alfonso blinked open his eyes and discovered that he was perched at the top of a gigantic pine tree - some two-hundred feet above the ground. The view was spectacular. Alfonso could see for miles in every direction and he could even make out his house in the distant hamlet of World's End, Minnesota. Unfortunately, there was no time to enjoy the view. The small branch that Alfonso stood upon was covered with gleaming snow and creaked dangerously under the pressure of his weight. Icy gusts of wind shook the entire treetop. Alfonso looked down grimly at the ground far below. If he fell, he would most certainly die.
"Oh brother," muttered Alfonso to himself. "Not again."

Jake Halpern (www.jakehalpern.com) is an acclaimed journalist, author, and radio producer who has written for several publications including The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. As a contributor at NPR, Jake produced one of the most listened-to episodes of This American Life. He co-wrote the Dormia series with Peter Kujawinski and is the author of Bad Paper, a nonfiction book for adults. Follow him on Twitter @JakeHalpern.

For eighteen years, Peter Kujawinski (www.peterkujawinski.com) was an American diplomat, on assignment in places like Israel, Haiti and France and at the United Nations in New York. Most recently, he was the U.S. Consul General in western Canada, which included Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. While working as a diplomat, he started to write for adults and children. He has contributed to the international edition of the New York Times, and with co-author Jake Halpern, Peter wrote the Dormia trilogy (Dormia, World's End and Shadow Tree). He lives in Chicago with his family. Follow him on Twitter @kujawinski.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780547328874
ISBN 10	0547328877
Title	Dormia
Author	Jake Halpern
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Year published	2010-05-24
Number of pages	528
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.