Pennyroyal Academy by M.a. Larson (English) Paperback Book

Description: Pennyroyal Academy by M.a. Larson A girl arrives in a bustling kingdom with no name and no idea why she is there, only to find herself at the centre of a world at war. She enlists at Pennyroyal Academy, where she is trained to battle the two great menaces: witches and dragons. There she must endure a harsh training regimen under the steel glare of her Fairy Drillsergeant. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description An Army of Witches. A World at War. A Girl with No Name.The girl enlists at Pennyroyal Academy, where princesses and knights are trained to battle the two great dangers of the day- witches and dragons. There she endures a harsh training regimen while also navigating an entirely new world of friends and enemies. As she learns what it truly means to be a princess, she realizes surprising things about herself and her family. And with the witch forces moving nearer, she discovers that the war between princesses and witches is much more personal than she could ever have imagined.Evies story continues in the next Pennyroyal Academy adventure! Author Biography M.A. Larson (malarson.com) is a film and television writer who lives with his wife, daughter, and two dogs in a canyon in California. Larson has written for Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney UK, Discovery Kids Channel, The Hub, and Nickelodeon. As a writer on the cult sensation My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, he has been a guest at "brony" fan conventions from Paris, France to Dallas, Texas. This is his first novel. Larson can be found on twitter at @M_A_Larson, where he frequently tweets about classic films and magical candy-colored ponies. Review "M. A. Larson has created a magical world of adventure--a world that shows who princesses truly are: people of character and courage and strength. No one rescues Pennyroyal princesses; they rescue themselves."--Reese Witherspoon "Pennyroyal Academy is one of those books you want to parse out and make last. It is a breathtakingly exciting novel, and Evie deserves a special place in the new pantheon of capable, feisty and, yes, admirable literary princesses."--The New York Times "Flashes of inspiration light up a protagonist with plenty of spine... A sequel-worthy debut..."--Kirkus Reviews "[Larson]...imbues the fantasy with an important, affirming message for readers: You get to decide what you want to be. No one else."--Publishers Weekly "A perfect fit for fans of Hales Princess Academy and the novels of Gail Carson Levine."--BCCB "Gripping and wonderful...a spectacular fantasy novel."--The Denver Post "A dark Grimm-like fairy tale."--Booklist "A great twist on traditional fairy tales."--Kidsreads "Laugh-out-loud funny moments and heartfelt emotion."--Common Sense Media Review Quote "M. A. Larson has created a magical world of adventure-a world that shows who princesses truly are: people of character and courage and strength. No one rescues Pennyroyal princesses; they rescue themselves."-Reese Witherspoon " Pennyroyal Academ y is one of those books you want to parse out and make last. It is a breathtakingly exciting novel, and Evie deserves a special place in the new pantheon of capable, feisty and, yes, admirable literary princesses." -- The New York Times "Flashes of inspiration light up a protagonist with plenty of spine… A sequel-worthy debut…"- Kirkus Reviews Promotional "Headline" Evies story continues in the next Pennyroyal Academy adventure! Excerpt from Book I F I M STILL in this forest by nightfall, Ill never leave it again. The girls eyes darted through the misty pines. The air was wet, though it wasnt exactly raining. Everywhere she turned she found dull gray shadows, and her mind put monsters in all of them. The only sound was her own frantic breath. No birdsong. No tumbling water. Nothing. A leafy tendril snaked up from the undergrowth and began to slither around her ankle. She tore her leg free and raced into the mist, her bare feet crackling through a carpet of dead leaves and fallen needles. Towering trees swayed overhead like mossy giants, and the small patches of sky she could see were black with clouds. Night was coming. And so were the things that lurked in the fog. As she hurdled over a rotting stump, a heart-sized dragon scale necklace bounced against her chest. A matted drape of spiders webs covered her body, her only protection against the elements. The rest of her was streaked with mud. She had been lost in this forest for three days. Had seen and heard things that still didnt seem real--a weathered thighbone so thick and long it could only have belonged to a giant; the deafening thunder of thrumming wings and the shadow of an enormous dragonfly passing above the canopy. Three days lost and she knew, one way or another, there would not be a fourth-- CRACK! The girl jumped at the sound, then heard the popping crackle of splitting wood somewhere above. She wheeled just in time to see the hairy branch of a beech tree swooping down. It slammed into her, knocking her over the edge of a hill. She tumbled through moldy black sludge to the bottom, where she collided with a pine trunk. She eased herself up, rolling her shoulder to be sure her arm wasnt broken. The first day, the day she had left home, she had taken a savage beating from the trees. Her father had always warned her to stay out of enchanted forests, but she was still taken aback by the trees ferocity. She had slowly begun to learn their moods and patterns, and before long was able to anticipate their attacks. She tried to avoid beeches especially, as they seemed the most malicious. Today it wasnt the trees that frightened her. The sun and moon and stars had all gone, along with chirping birds and skittering goblins. In their place, the clouds and mist, and the distinct feeling that something else was out there. But what? She listened, silent and still, though all she heard was wind shivering through leaves. As she stood, her emerald-green eyes narrowed. There, faintly visible through the dusk, was a distant pinpoint of light. The window of a cottage. She had always been cautious, much more so than her sister, but once she saw that light, she ran for it. The cottage was small, its timbers frayed and soggy. This was the first shelter she had seen since leaving home, and yet something inside her screamed to turn back and run and then run some more. Would I rather be out here when the sun is gone, or inside? She ignored her instincts and edged to the window, grabbing hold of the sill. Clumps of rot crumbled off in her hands. She wiped them away, then leaned in again. Firelight washed across her face, and her stomach roared. At the far side of the room, a thick, brown liquid bubbled over the rim of a cauldron, sizzling on the embers. She couldnt see anything else, but that was enough. Her hunger drove her to the door, but as she clutched the handle, panic swarmed up through the soles of her feet like a million wasps. Somethings not right here-- A wolfs lonesome howl echoed down from the mountains, and she knew she had no choice. She gave the door a hard shove, but it didnt budge. She threw her shoulder into it and finally it barked open. "Hello?" she said with a small, shaking voice. There was no answer, only the soft pop of the fire. The floorboards screamed as she stepped inside and shouldered the door shut with a resonant thud. The cottage was warm and tidy. Beneath the lone window sat a wooden table, where waterflies buzzed around a pile of blackish-red slop. Next to that were a rusted hand-crank machine and several neat stacks of multicolored candies. A chill ran down her arms. In the corner, beyond the hearth, next to the open door of a small bedchamber, stood a large cage, oranged with rust and age. It was just the right size to hold a person. Next to it, a small pile of childrens shoes spilled across the floor. She turned to run, but the door that had just been so solidly stuck now hung open. And outside, footsteps crackled through the leaves. She looked for another way out, but it was too late, so she dove under the table and hugged her legs to her chest. A thick drip of red slid through the slats of the table and plopped on the floor at her feet. Oh please oh please oh please . . . A pair of muddy riding boots clomped across the floorboards, shoved along by an old woman draped in layer upon layer of decaying black robes. The door slammed shut behind them, though no one was there to slam it. The girls blood ran cold. She was trapped. The old woman, hunched and bent like a river, shoved her prisoner into the cage and rattled the latch home. He was around the girls same age, and wore a dark gray leather doublet embroidered in burgundy. His dark hair was in knots from countless hours on horseback, and his arms were bound behind his back. The cage was too small for him to stand, so he threw his shoulder into the door. The frail metal clanged, but held fast. His captor went to the cauldron to stir her bubbling broth, which hissed against the flames like a chorus of angry snakes. "Now then, what have I done with my jars?" Her voice was full of contradictions, soft and sweet, but with a knife-edge of menace. "Its been so long since I had a heart to put in them. Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh . . ." She leaned her ladle against the stone gently, like a kindly grandmother might, then shuffled into the bedchamber. Now! Now! NOW! But the girl sat frozen in place, watching as the boy strained and writhed against his bonds. He leaned back to give the door a solid kick, and thats when he saw her. " Hey! " he hissed, jerking his head toward the latch. Tears welled in her eyes, and she suddenly felt as though she might faint. " I know youre scared, but open this cage and youll leave here alive. I swear it. " She pulled her legs tighter, clinging to them like the last jagged stone before a waterfall. But as her tears fell and her heart thumped in her chest, she noticed something in his eyes that calmed her. He wasnt afraid. When he said he could keep her alive, he believed it. Somehow, before her own fear could stop her, she began to scoot forward. Each creak of the floorboards made her want to scream and run for the door, but she kept her eyes fixed on his and crept closer and closer to the cage. " Hurry! " he whispered. Her trembling fingers reached for the latch. She tried to work it free as gently as she could, but the metal had become violently angry over the ages. It screamed open. "Whats this?" The girl wheeled and fell back against the cage. She had never seen a witch before, but there could be little doubt that that was what stood before her now. The witch didnt move, just stared at her with milky yellow eyes and a wide, toothless grin. Her skin was the color of a worm after three days rain, and it drooped from her bones like a melted candle. "Open the latch!" shouted the boy, slamming his shoulder against the door. But the witchs gaze paralyzed the girl. The hags eyes bored straight into her own, slicing through her brain and down her throat. The girl gasped for air as the witch stared deeper, deeper, straight for her heart. She was choking on hate, anguish, fear . . . the feeling that she had already seen the sun for the last time without even realizing it. The witch was inside her-- "RUN!" shouted the boy as the cage door finally crashed open. The girl snapped free of the witchs gaze. All that choking awfulness slid out of her throat and she could breathe once more. The dragon scale whipped round to her back as she sprinted for the door. She threw it open and burst out into the night. The blackness of the woods and the swirling fog made it seem like the witch was everywhere at once. Even in the open forest, the girl was trapped. "Over here!" The boy stood next to a massive white horse that glowed in the moonlight like a ghost. "What? On that?" "These are her woods! Well never make it on foot!" She grimaced, but knew she would have to trust him. As she raced to the horse, the flickering firelight inside the cottage was suddenly extinguished. Smoky blackness, darker than the night, wafted from the door. " Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh . . ." The cackle was no longer that of a feeble old lady. It had morphed into something elemental and terrifying. The girl swung onto the horses back. Beneath the smooth white needles of hair she could feel sweat and muscle and knew the boy was right: this was their only chance of escape. She reached down and grabbed the rope binding his arms, hauling him facedown across the horses backside. Black smoke billowed from the door, and the cackling reverberated through the forest like it was coming from the fog itself. "Lets go!" grunted the boy, but the girl was transfixed by the figure floating out of the cottage. The witchs body had distorted into something monstrous, long-limbed and inhuman. Her tattered robes billowed smoke. The skin around her mou Details ISBN0142427144 Author M.a. Larson Short Title PENNYROYAL ACADEMY Publisher Puffin Books Language English ISBN-10 0142427144 ISBN-13 9780142427149 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Pages 320 Series Pennyroyal Academy Year 2016 Imprint Puffin Country of Publication United States Audience Age 10-13 Place of Publication New York Audience Children/Juvenile Series Number 1 Publication Date 2016-03-15 US Release Date 2016-03-15 UK Release Date 2016-03-15 NZ Release Date 2016-05-14 AU Release Date 2016-05-14 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:137575148;

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