Day 30: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Kate’s last memory of her parents is on Christmas Eve when she was just four years old. Her mother woke her up in the middle night, she made her promise that she would always look after her brother Michael and her sister Emma. Then the siblings were taken away by a strange man. The only thing the man left them was the last name P, just the letter P. For the next ten years Kate kept her promise. The siblings were moved from orphanage to orphanage, always holding onto the belief that their parents would come and get them one day. The P family has worn out their welcome at their current orphanage and is sent to the one and only place that will take them, a strange orphanage in Cambridge Falls, NY.  When they arrive, they find the island and town very mysterious and the orphanage even stranger. Soon Kate is having dreams of a strange emerald book. Following the path of the dreams, the siblings find the book and are transported back in time. There they find a world mixed with magic, an evil witch, horrible screechers, giants and dwarfs. The family ends up on an amazing adventure to save the town and learn that they are linked to the Books of the Beginning. The books are the most powerful books of all time and when brought together they have the power to control the world. This is the first book in a planed trilogy. It is a wonderful book, one of my favorite books of the summer. There is a lot of adventure, magic and suspense. Students that love Harry Potter and other fantasy books, I think will really like this book as well and anticipate the release of the next books in the trilogy. I would recommend this book for fourth grade and up.