about the book
Violet knows she is no ordinary princess. That is, she is not delicate and beautiful, like the ones in the fairytales she knows and loves. Instead, she is kind of plain, with a sort of pug nose and a lanky, awkward body. Her father was no ordinary king, either, being far more interested in gaining knowledge than in conquering lands. Violet thinks her father is weak, just as she thinks she is ugly and not a very good princess.
Violet does have a good friend, though, in Demetrius, the stable master’s son, with whom she explores the castle, imagining adventures. One day they discover a hidden room and find a real adventure.
Inside the room are dozens of books and one strange, disturbing painting—dragons with unseeing eyes are surrounding something cruel. It is the evil god, the Nybbas, from the Andulan Realm, in a different but connected universe. When Violet later goes to the room by herself and opens one of the books, she unknowingly enters into the Nybbas’s unfinished story.
The Nybbas promises Princess Violet beauty and power, the ability to be like the “real” princesses she has always wanted to be. Violet takes the Nybbas’s promises, and accidentally unleashes him on the world!
Only with the help of Demetrius and the last living dragon, and by realizing who she really is, will Violet be able to right the wrong she has caused before the Nybbas destroys the world.
about the author
Now a writer of books (the only thing for which her many disparate previous jobs have prepared her), Kelly Barnhill used to be a teacher, a bartender, waitress, activist, park ranger, wildland firefighter, secretary, janitor, and guitar player at her church. Not all at once, obviously.
Kelly has been quite happily telling stories for a long time now. Apart from some of her young adult novels, she has also written short stories more for grownups, some literary, some speculative, and some something else, classified as “Otherwise.” In addition, she likes writing creative essays and poetry, and has been known to write short, strange, nonfiction books for elementary students.
Kelly and her husband Ted—an architect who designs sustainable and beautiful homes, including the one they live in—have three children, and one very old dog. Kelly still teaches sometimes, but she also works with the Cub Scouts, goes for runs, canoes, camps, gardens, hikes, and bakes pie.
Source :
Author website
Also by Kelly Barnhill:
The Witch’s Boy. Algonquin Young Readers. 2014.
The Mostly True Story of Jack. Little, Brown and Company. 2011.
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