I'm the author of a middle-grade fantasy trilogy, the first book of which you can see here: Raising Sleeping Stones These books were inspired by helping my daughters learn to tame their nightmares, fly, breathe underwater, and other things we can do in our dreams with practice. I was really, really frustrated by how creativity and imaginative learning in schools was being replaced by standardized testing, so I wrote these books to help readers learn more about their own dreams and how to improve them.
Synopsis: When sisters Kiva and DeeDee Stone discover a mysterious plot that threatens them and everything they care about, they have to take a crash course in the ancient art of DreamKeeping to survive. As two elder DreamKeepers lead them up the Varruvyen river to the Eyle of Return, they show the girls how to gain dream powers greater than anything they had ever imagined. But can they become strong enough to face the monsters that haunt their dreams at night, strong enough to fight the enemies that draw nearer each day? The answer lies somewhere in the broken history of Orora Crona, the Valley of Dreams lost centuries ago, and whoever can piece it together first will rule for centuries to come.
Excerpt:
“Why’d they leave all this stuff lying around?” DeeDee asked. “In town, we get in trouble with the Guilders if we don’t put our tools back.” “Yes, well, these men were far from town and were not welcome here,” Mr. Heyvon told her, “so they were … convinced to leave their tools and the Wild Woods quickly.” “The Wild Woods??” Kiva gasped. “Your secret hiding place where we’re supposed to be safe is in the Wild Woods???” “Now, Kiva, please,” Hilde began, “you’ll scare your sister.” “What about me?” Kiva asked. “People die in the Wild Woods! I hear trees eat people and stuff and make them disappear out here! I don’t want to end up like those wagons!” she shouted, casting fearful glances at the trees around her. “You won’t, Kiva,” Mr. Heyvon said in a calming tone. “Nothing bad is going to happen to any of us here. DreamKeepers call this place the Wild Woods and organize small … events so that the people who come here to cut down the trees and destroy the forest will be frightened away. But we are friends of this place and will be welcomed into it.” “By who?” Kiva challenged. “A boulder? A tree?” “No,” he replied calmly, “by him.” The girls followed his gesture and saw, about ten feet ahead of them, a small chipmunk that was chattering and twitching at them. After Mr. Heyvon had passed the torch to Hilde, he put out his hands in the emahna position and bowed. The chipmunk turned and led the way down a narrow path. “Look!” DeeDee hissed, pointing down. Kiva looked and saw the chipmunk had left a trail of tiny paw prints on the ground glowing with a faint green light. Amazed, they followed its trail under drooping vines, over moss-covered tree trunks, and past a swamp. The girls were struck dumb when a pair of glistening snakes began to slither along on either side of the path, but grew even more alarmed when a hooting owl swooped overhead, a worrisome skunk moved in from behind, and a porcupine shuffled along just ahead of them. The sight of a moose approaching slowly from the right made Kiva move to the left until a tug from DeeDee alerted her to the fact that a grey wolf had just appeared on that side. The only thing that wasn’t scary to Kiva were the faint green tracks all the animals left behind them. They were fascinating. “Ah,” Mr. Heyvon said, holding up his hand. “It seems we are being told to stop here.” The girls looked up and saw that a curtain of glowing bees was drawing around them. “Are those ... nice bees?” Kiva asked. “Do they know we’re … friends of the forest?” “Certainly,” Mr. Heyvon replied, though Kiva thought she could hear his voice waver a little. “Please call Okwis!” he told the bees. “We need to see Okwis!” Everyone held their breath, not daring to move in any direction for fear of being stung, bitten, antlered, scratched, stuck, clawed, or sprayed. Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only seconds, the curtain of bees parted in front of them to reveal a fox staring intently at them with eyes that glowed with the same soft green light. “Ah! Finally! There you are, Okwis!” Mr. Heyvon sighed, holding up his palms until they glowed green, again. “We need to see Marcel. It’s quite urgent.” The fox looked them over for a long while before he turned and led the way forward. The small group followed, flanked by their animal escorts. To Kiva’s great relief, the bees stayed behind. Despite his efforts to appear calm, Mr. Heyvon jumped when a line of wooden poles sprang up from the ground right in front of them, their sharpened spikes stopping inches from Mr. Heyvon’s face. Kiva jumped when she heard something move in a nearby tree and whirled to see a horrifying, dark figure drop out of the trees and onto the path right behind them. It had a huge feathery head of orange ... hair? and a striped skull for a face with bared teeth. Kiva and DeeDee screamed as it waved its hairy arms and rattled the necklace of bones around its neck."
If you'd like a free pdf or epub to consider it for an honest review (no obligation of reviewing), email me at phtbennet@raisingstones.com
I'm the author of a middle-grade fantasy trilogy, the first book of which you can see here:
Raising Sleeping Stones
These books were inspired by helping my daughters learn to tame their nightmares, fly, breathe underwater, and other things we can do in our dreams with practice. I was really, really frustrated by how creativity and imaginative learning in schools was being replaced by standardized testing, so I wrote these books to help readers learn more about their own dreams and how to improve them.
Synopsis: When sisters Kiva and DeeDee Stone discover a mysterious plot that threatens them and everything they care about, they have to take a crash course in the ancient art of DreamKeeping to survive. As two elder DreamKeepers lead them up the Varruvyen river to the Eyle of Return, they show the girls how to gain dream powers greater than anything they had ever imagined. But can they become strong enough to face the monsters that haunt their dreams at night, strong enough to fight the enemies that draw nearer each day? The answer lies somewhere in the broken history of Orora Crona, the Valley of Dreams lost centuries ago, and whoever can piece it together first will rule for centuries to come.
Excerpt:
“Why’d they leave all this stuff lying around?” DeeDee asked. “In town, we get in trouble with the Guilders if we don’t put our tools back.”
“Yes, well, these men were far from town and were not welcome here,” Mr. Heyvon told her, “so they were … convinced to leave their tools and the Wild Woods quickly.”
“The Wild Woods??” Kiva gasped. “Your secret hiding place where we’re supposed to be safe is in the Wild Woods???”
“Now, Kiva, please,” Hilde began, “you’ll scare your sister.”
“What about me?” Kiva asked. “People die in the Wild Woods! I hear trees eat people and stuff and make them disappear out here! I don’t want to end up like those wagons!” she shouted, casting fearful glances at the trees around her.
“You won’t, Kiva,” Mr. Heyvon said in a calming tone. “Nothing bad is going to happen to any of us here. DreamKeepers call this place the Wild Woods and organize small … events so that the people who come here to cut down the trees and destroy the forest will be frightened away. But we are friends of this place and will be welcomed into it.”
“By who?” Kiva challenged. “A boulder? A tree?”
“No,” he replied calmly, “by him.”
The girls followed his gesture and saw, about ten feet ahead of them, a small chipmunk that was chattering and twitching at them. After Mr. Heyvon had passed the torch to Hilde, he put out his hands in the emahna position and bowed. The chipmunk turned and led the way down a narrow path.
“Look!” DeeDee hissed, pointing down. Kiva looked and saw the chipmunk had left a trail of tiny paw prints on the ground glowing with a faint green light. Amazed, they followed its trail under drooping vines, over moss-covered tree trunks, and past a swamp. The girls were struck dumb when a pair of glistening snakes began to slither along on either side of the path, but grew even more alarmed when a hooting owl swooped overhead, a worrisome skunk moved in from behind, and a porcupine shuffled along just ahead of them. The sight of a moose approaching slowly from the right made Kiva move to the left until a tug from DeeDee alerted her to the fact that a grey wolf had just appeared on that side. The only thing that wasn’t scary to Kiva were the faint green tracks all the animals left behind them. They were fascinating.
“Ah,” Mr. Heyvon said, holding up his hand. “It seems we are being told to stop here.” The girls looked up and saw that a curtain of glowing bees was drawing around them.
“Are those ... nice bees?” Kiva asked. “Do they know we’re … friends of the forest?”
“Certainly,” Mr. Heyvon replied, though Kiva thought she could hear his voice waver a little. “Please call Okwis!” he told the bees. “We need to see Okwis!”
Everyone held their breath, not daring to move in any direction for fear of being stung, bitten, antlered, scratched, stuck, clawed, or sprayed. Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only seconds, the curtain of bees parted in front of them to reveal a fox staring intently at them with eyes that glowed with the same soft green light.
“Ah! Finally! There you are, Okwis!” Mr. Heyvon sighed, holding up his palms until they glowed green, again. “We need to see Marcel. It’s quite urgent.”
The fox looked them over for a long while before he turned and led the way forward. The small group followed, flanked by their animal escorts. To Kiva’s great relief, the bees stayed behind.
Despite his efforts to appear calm, Mr. Heyvon jumped when a line of wooden poles sprang up from the ground right in front of them, their sharpened spikes stopping inches from Mr. Heyvon’s face. Kiva jumped when she heard something move in a nearby tree and whirled to see a horrifying, dark figure drop out of the trees and onto the path right behind them.
It had a huge feathery head of orange ... hair? and a striped skull for a face with bared teeth. Kiva and DeeDee screamed as it waved its hairy arms and rattled the necklace of bones around its neck."
If you'd like a free pdf or epub to consider it for an honest review (no obligation of reviewing), email me at phtbennet@raisingstones.com