Kate, Michael, and Emma P. have lived in an orphanage for as long as they can remember. They don’t even know what their last initial, P., stands for. These siblings stick together through every orphanage, and every failed adoption attempt. In fact, they work very hard not to get adopted. They believe that their parents are still out there and that people who have a mother and a father should not be adopted.

It’s been ten years since Kate, the oldest, remembers her mother telling her goodbye with the promise that they will be together again someday, and this faith gives all of the children hope. After ruining their chances to get adopted again, the P. children end up on an island that isn’t on any map, at a old house that resembles no orphanage they have inhabited, with a grouchy cook, a frightened groundskeeper, and quite possibly a wizard. Upon exploring the large, musty rooms of the old house, the children stumble across a book with a green cover. Michael is sure that it is an empty photo album, but when he slips a picture inside the books pages, all three kids are immediately transported somewhere else in time and space.

And thus begins The Emerald Atlas, the first book in The Books of the Beginning trilogy. First time author John Stephens has created an authentic and colorful world where, much like the history of the Lord of the Rings world, beings with magical powers have hidden themselves from the race of man as humankind became more powerful and thirsted for the power that magic could give an ordinary man.

Many of us at Lemuria have been devouring The Emerald Atlas, and I haven’t heard so much excitement about a fantasy series since the rise of Harry Potter. When I first heard of this book last fall, I fell in love with the siblings witty banter and the time travel aspects of the book (yes time travel!).

I got to meet John Stephens when Candlewick so graciously sent me to the Winter Institute in Washington D.C. in January. You could tell he was just blown over by all the praise and attention his book was getting.

He was so humble and really just a lover of children’s literature. All this to say that when Random House offered us a chance to host a signing with John, I was ecstatic, and I knew it would be a part of our budding Oz First Editions Club. I have no doubt that as this series grows in popularity, signed firsts of this book will be treasured by those of us here at Lemuria.

The Emerald Atlas is our Oz First Editions May pick, and John will be here signing on Thursday, April 21st at 4:30, the Thursday before Easter. I really hope you will come talk to John about his new book and become a part of something that will no doubt be great.

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