Keeper of the Lost Cities (Keeper of the Lost Cities Series #1)

by Shannon Messenger

Overview

In this riveting debut, a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world—before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret—at least, that’s what she thinks…

But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

But Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death—and time is running out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442445956
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Series:	Keeper of the Lost Cities Series
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	14,911
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She’s studied art, screenwriting, and television production, but realized her real passion was writing for kids and teens. She is the author of the middle grade series Keeper of the Lost Cities and the Sky Fall series for young adults. She lives in Southern California with her husband and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at ShannonMessenger.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A delightful and dangerous adventure with complex characters and relationships you'll root for to the end of time.”

—Lisa McMann, New York Times bestselling author of THE UNWANTEDS

"Keeper of the Lost Cities is a little bit Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a little bit Lord of the Rings, and a little bit Harry Potter. And it's all fun!"

—New York Times bestselling author Michael Buckley

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5–8—This debut novel is a powerful and appealing package of skillful world-building, fantasy, suspense, mystery, and middle-school relationships. Sophie Foster, a friendless 12-year-old high school senior with a photographic memory, is plagued by the hubbub of other people's thoughts in her brain. She has always known that she is different, but her life changes profoundly when she learns that she is an elf with telepathic and other magical abilities. She is transported away from her human family forever to the elvin world, where the Lost Cities (Atlantis, Shangri-la, etc.) exist and extinct animals are thriving. As Sophie starts at her new school, her concerns about friendships, midterms, crushes, and grades in subjects such as "the Universe," "elementalism," and "alchemy" will hook readers. While navigating her new life, Sophie must solve two mysteries: First, who is setting all those magical-seeming fires in the human world? And second, who could be leaving items in her locker that repeatedly put her in serious danger? The more she learns, the more her memories return, uncovering secrets about her past. The suspenseful climax leads to a satisfying resolution, although Messenger leaves just enough threads hanging for a possible sequel. A slew of interesting and well-drawn characters, careful plotting, and just plain good storytelling will have readers racing through the pages.—Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City

School Library Journal

“A delightful and dangerous adventure with complex characters and relationships you'll root for to the end of time.”

—Lisa McMann, New York Times bestselling author of THE UNWANTEDS

"Keeper of the Lost Cities is a little bit Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a little bit Lord of the Rings, and a little bit Harry Potter. And it's all fun!"

—New York Times bestselling author Michael Buckley

From the Publisher

A San Diego preteen learns that she's an elf, with a place in magic school if she moves to the elves' hidden realm. Having felt like an outsider since a knock on the head at age 5 left her able to read minds, Sophie is thrilled when hunky teen stranger Fitz convinces her that she's not human at all and transports her to the land of Lumenaria, where the ageless elves live. Taken in by a loving couple who run a sanctuary for extinct and mythical animals, Sophie quickly gathers friends and rivals at Foxfire, a distinctly Hogwarts-style school. She also uncovers both clues to her mysterious origins and hints that a rash of strangely hard-to-quench wildfires back on Earth are signs of some dark scheme at work. Though Messenger introduces several characters with inner conflicts and ambiguous agendas, Sophie herself is more simply drawn as a smart, radiant newcomer who unwillingly becomes the center of attention while developing what turn out to be uncommonly powerful magical abilities--reminiscent of the younger Harry Potter, though lacking that streak of mischievousness that rescues Harry from seeming a little too perfect. The author puts her through a kidnapping and several close brushes with death before leaving her poised, amid hints of a higher destiny and still-anonymous enemies, for sequels. Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child who, while overly fond of screaming, rises to every challenge. (Fantasy. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews