Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | SCD J FICTION JOH 8 DISCS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | SCD J FICTION JOH 8 DISCS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
For fans of Frozen , The City of Ember , and The School of Good and Evil , the New York Times bestseller The Mark of the Dragonfly is a fast-paced adventure story about a mysterious girl and a fearless boy, set in a magical world that is both exciting and dangerous.
Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields.
The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home.
The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.
Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.
Praise for The Mark of the Dragonfly
★ "This magnetic middle-grade debut ... is] a page-turner that defies easy categorization and ought to have broad appeal."-- Publishers Weekly , Starred
★ " Heart, brains, and courage find a home in a steampunk fantasy worthy of a nod from Baum."-- Kirkus Reviews , Starred
★ " A fantastic and original tale of adventure and magic ...Piper is a heroine to fall in love with: smart, brave, kind, and mechanically inclined to boot."-- School Library Journal , Starred
" A complex and impeccably developed plot --there is plenty to recommend in this novel."-- The Bulletin
"Appealing characters and lots of action make it a good choice for young adventure readers. "-- Booklist
Author Notes
Jaleigh Johnson is a New York Times bestselling author as well as lifelong reader, gamer, and moviegoer. She loves nothing better than to escape into fictional worlds and take part in fantastic adventures. Her novels for young readers include The Mark of the Dragonfly and The Secrets of Solace .
She lives and writes in the wilds of the Midwest, but you can visit her online at jaleighjohnson.com or on Twitter @JaleighJohnson.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Merging elements of dystopia, steampunk, and fantasy, this magnetic middle-grade debut imagines an alien world where 13-year-old Piper survives by working as a scrapper, salvaging artifacts left behind by meteor storms. Her life transforms when she rescues a mysterious girl in the aftermath of one such storm: Anna is brilliant yet disoriented, and she sports a tattoo signifying that she is held under the protection of the king of the Dragonfly territories. Piper knows that a reward awaits her if she returns Anna safely to her home. Yet passage on board the 401, a mile-long armored train, is beyond their grasp, and Anna is also being pursued by a ruthless, ominous man. With a setting drawn from an industrial revolution still in birthing pains, Johnson's narrative is marked by colloquial language and blends societal decay with a sense of burgeoning technological innovation. Piper and her new ally, the enigmatic Gee, exhibit maturity and resourcefulness at every turn in a page-turner that defies easy categorization and ought to have broad appeal. Ages 10-up. Agent: Sara Megibow, Nelson Literary Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When Piper finds an unconscious girl with a royal tattoo, she thinks she has found a way out of poverty by returning the girl for a reward, but only if the two can stow away on a dangerous train. Piper's determination and wit coupled with imaginative world-building make this a diverting read, despite a rushed ending that wraps up too neatly. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
It is a harsh life for Piper, an orphan who makes her living salvaging meteor-storm debris and repairing small machines in Scrap Town #16. When she rescues an unconscious girl, Anna, from the wreckage of a travelers' caravan and discovers that the girl is under the protection of the king of the Dragonfly Territories, Piper knows that returning Anna to her family is the perfect chance for her to start a new life. But getting there will require a trip on the expensive and dangerous 401, a beautiful old train with mysterious guards. And that's not their only roadblock: Anna has lost her memory. And a strange, intense man who will stop at nothing to capture her is hot on her heels. Part Firefly and part Kenneth Oppel's Airborn (2004), this alternate-world novel is full of mechanical wonders, magical people, and unambiguous good guys and bad guys. Appealing characters and lots of action make it a good choice for young adventure readers with a taste for steampunk.--Willey, Paula Copyright 2014 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-In the future and on a ruined planet, orphaned Piper lives alone, making her living from mending the scraps she finds after the deadly meteor showers and dust storms that beleaguer the towns on the outskirts of civilization. She has an almost magical ability to fix things, mechanized things especially-it's as though the objects want to be mended by Piper, and sometimes they will work only for her. One day Piper finds a young girl who is silent, amnesiac, and in terror of the man who hunts her. Marked by the tattoo of a dragonfly, the girl can't hide until Piper spirits her away and, with the help of Gee (who can transform at will from handsome teenager to flying dragon), the stowaway girls find a safe home on steam train 401, hurtling through the hostile countryside towards King Aron's kingdom. Johnson has brilliantly taken the dystopian genre to a level accessible to tween readers. The Mark of the Dragonfly is a fantastic and original tale of adventure and magic with steampunk elements and a little romance thrown in. The landscapes the girls pass through are imaginatively depicted and cinematically described (streets lit by glowing "night eye flowers"). Fierce battles are tempered with humor, and Piper is a heroine to fall in love with: smart, brave, kind, and mechanically inclined to boot!-Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Heart, brains and courage find a home in a steampunk fantasy worthy of a nod from Baum. Thirteen-year-old Piper is a forthright machinist in dismal Scrap Town Number Sixteen (as charming as it sounds). Her skill at machine repair is unsurpassed, but the recent loss of her father has left her orphaned, with a need to trade destitution for something greener. While scavenging debris left by a violent meteor storm, Piper finds an unconscious girl, Anna, who wakes with severe amnesia and a propensity for analytical chatter and who bears the dragonfly tattoo given to those in the king's inner circle. When a menacing man comes looking for Anna, the girls board the 401 (an antique locomotive run by a motley crew), radically accelerating Piper's plans for a new life. Though Piper is initially driven by the prospect of a reward for returning Anna to what she assumes is a wealthy home, the staggeringly different girls eventually form a bond far stronger than just strategic alliance. Though there are initial echoes of Hunger Gamesian dystopian despair, these are quickly absolved as the book becomes something all its own. Consistent and precise attention to detail, from the functioning of a security system to the communicative abilities of a telepathic species, thrills. This is foremost a rugged adventure story, but there is a splash of romance (and a fabulous makeover scene). A well-imagined world of veritable adventure. (Steampunk. 11-15)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.