The land of New Norumbega is an unusual one--an empire of gut and bone, a kingdom of blood and mucus. At its dark, dry heart is a ruling class that doesn't care about much besides itself... and a ruler who is (literally) a one-eyed stump of flesh. Brain and Gregory have come to New Norumbega for a reason--to get the Norumbegans to help them thwart an alien attack back home on earth. But instead, the two boys find themselves caught up in both a robot rebellion and a murder mystery after one of the Norumbegan leaders is sent to sleep... permanently.
By National Book Award–winning M. T. Anderson
Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places–Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still, when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many things are...off. Like, people aren't wherethey're supposed to be. And houses are everywhere. In fact, the houses seem to be taking over.
Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places–Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still, when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many things are...off. Like, people aren't wherethey're supposed to be. And houses are everywhere. In fact, the houses seem to be taking over.
When Brian and Gregory receive an invitation to stay at a distant relative's strange manse...well, they should know better than to go, since this is a middle-grade adventure novel. But they go anyway. Why not? Once there, they stumble upon The Game of Sunken Places, a board game that mirrors a greater game in which they have suddenly become players. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches. Luckily, they have wit, deadpan observation, and a keen sense of adventure on their side.
M.T. Anderson is the author of The Game of Sunken Places; the National Book Award–winning, Michael L. Printz Honor book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party; and the Michael L. Printz Honor book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves, as well as Feed and Thirsty. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Click here to learn more about M. T. Anderson.
