about the book
Darel dreams of following in his fierce father’s footsteps. He was an elite Kulipari warrior, a mighty poisonous frog, and a brave defender of Amphibiland.
Many believe Darel’s father was slaughtered during the Hidingwar against the scorpions,. Darel is sure that his father is still alive, gone with the few surviving Kulipari to regroup and retrain. Fortunately, Amphiland is still protected by the Turtle King’s powerful dreamcasting spell, a protective veil that hides the lush Australian forest, wetland, and seashore kingdom. Since the frogs have been living in peace and comfort for so many years, the Kulipari have not been needed.
Though Darel practices his warrior skills night and day and is improving, he’ll never be a Kulipari. He is not poisonous. He is just an ordinary wood frog, like his mother. To help him train, he recruits his hefty best friend Gee and pretty Coorah, an apprentice healer. Though the adult frogs all disagree, Darel is sure that the scorpions will be back, more dangerous than ever!
Darel is right. Lord Marmoo, the leader of the scorpions, is plotting revenge and this time he has an alliance with the terrible lizards and the deadly spiders. The vile spider queen, Jarrah, is an evil nightcaster…her spells are powerful enough to destroy the Turtle King’s magic! As she rips at the magical veil, Amphibiland will find itself more vulnerable than it has ever been!
While gathering wattleflowers for Coorah’s herbal medicines, Gee and Darel stumble upon an advance party of invaders. As Gee runs back to warn the others, he is captured and imprisoned. Darel, too, ends up in the heart of the enemy’s camp, impersonating a volunteer!
In this fast-paced tale of brutality, betrayal, and loss, somehow these adolescent frogs will have to save themselves, find the Kulipari, stop the invaders, and protect Amphibiland. With no poison, Darel will have to depend on his determination, courage, and cunning!
about the authors
Trevor Pryce was born on August 3, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Winter Park, Florida. He was a really big kid and had an interest in football and running hurdles. Unfortunately he was always too big or too young to play on most kid’s teams. When he hit thirteen, he made it onto a varsity team and literally nothing could stop him. As a six foot seven behemoth, young Trevor was scared of nothing. Well, actually he was afraid of one thing—bullfrogs. He thought they were gross, yucky puss-filled wart givers!
After playing college football at the University of Michigan and Clemson University, he played fourteen seasons in the National Football League for the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, and the New York Jets. He helped lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl victory in 1999.
At the age of 37 in 2010, he decided to retire. It sounded like a good plan at the time but it wasn’t long before he was BORED!!! With two young daughters and one son, he found himself watching a lot of children’s television. He never intended to become an author. His first thought was to write and produce movies. He came up with a dark animated action adventure movie featuring Australian outback animals. It didn’t sell. Then he remembered the bullfrogs…and the rest is history. An Army of Frogs turned into a trilogy with maybe more series to come. There is even talk of putting the ribbeting Darel and his pals on television or on the big screens.
And Trevor? Well he has sold several shows to ABC, Disney, and the Cartoon Network. His kids are older now (13, 11, and 7) so he isn’t watching as many cartoons and the family now lives in Maryland. He’s not at all bored anymore. You’ll often find him at schools talking about football, writing…and gross, yucky puss-filled wart-giving frogs! He still doesn’t like them!
Sources:
Kulipari series website
Author spotlight: USA Today
Author interview: Purpose 2 Play
Author video presentation: Center for Fiction
Author video interview
Also by Trevor Pryce:
Amphibians’ End (Kulipari Novel, Book 3). Amulet Books. 2015.
The Rainbow Serpent (Kulipari Novel, Book 2). Amulet Books. 2014.
Joel Naftali has been writing for a long time. He’s penned all sorts of books: World War II thrillers for adults, career guides for high school and college students, do-it-yourself business guides for twenty somethings, travel cook books, and tween nail-biters. Sometimes he writes with his wife Lee Naftali. Sometimes he writes under the pen name Joel N. Ross.
Joel lives with Lee and their son Ben in Yarmouth, Maine. We do know that you can find a fair amount of frogs there! We’re just not sure how Joel feels about them!
Sources:
Author biography: KidsReads
Author biography: Amazon
Author biography: Macmillan
Also by Joel Naftali :
Amphibians’ End (Kulipari Novel, Book 3) by Trevor Pryce. Amulet Books. 2015.
The Rainbow Serpent (Kulipari Novel, Book 2) by Trevor Pryce. Amulet Books. 2014.
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The Rainbow Serpent (Kulipari Novel, Book 2) by Trevor Pryce
The Kulipari, led by young Darel and his companions, search for the magical dreamcasting turtle, Yabber. He knows who holds the key to saving the Amphibilands: it is the Rainbow Serpent, an ancient god who brought life to the Australian outback. They will need the help of the platypuses to win the battle against their evil enemies. But can even the platypuses help them find this legendary mythological serpent?