We've finished the first book! Next week we get to start North! Or Be Eaten together. :-)There were two passages that stood out to me while reading this week, so as an end-of-book bonus (and as a clever bit of cheatery), I'm going to post one excerpt here and another in the forum. ;-) This one I love because of the breathlessness and silence and light.
Janner woke with a start and leapt to his feet. The chamber was completely dark. He thought for a moment that he was in the Black Carriage, that he could still hear the cawing of crows, the remnants of a dark dream clinging to him like cobwebs. Tink’s familiar snore brought him back to the underground chamber. The torch must be spent, he thought—but the Fangs! The hounds! Janner put his ear up to the cold iron door and listened.Silence.No horned hounds howled. No Fang snarled or hissed. All was still.Janner nudged Tink with no success. He groped in the dark and could feel Tink’s figure, curled up and sleeping a few feet from the door.He thought about opening the door without waking the others. He could do it quietly, just to see if the sun had yet risen and whether by some miracle of the Maker the Fangs were gone or at least distracted. He put a sweaty hand on the door handle, hesitated for a moment, and turned it. The click echoed in the room and Janner flinched, afraid he would alert the monsters outside and above.With a deep breath, he pulled on the great door and it creaked open. His eyes had so adjusted to the darkness that the faint light trickling down the tunnel stung. As Janner shielded his eyes, his mouth dropped open at what lay before him.
Discussion: What was the funniest part of the book? What was the saddest? What was the most scary? What was the most wonderful?Was there a part of this book you couldn't stop thinking about? What was it? What does it make you think?
Was there something that happened in the book that you expected, or wished, had happened differently? What do you think would have happened if things had turned out the way you expected?What do you think will happen next?I would LOVE to hear your favorite excerpt from this week's reading—or, this being the last week, from anywhere in On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Post it below!Activity: Design your own treehouse! What will you include?Bonus conversation: Head over to the forum to talk about the other excerpt Madame Sidler appreciated this week. There have been some other really good conversations in the forum this week, too. You're more than welcome to come poke around.If you'll be joining us for the next book, North! Or Be Eaten, pick up your copy at the Rabbit Room or Amazon!