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Chapter 1
Packing for a Trip

I don’t believe it,” Jane murmured.

Outside, a squirrel was wedged into a hole in the tree. It’s stuck, Jane thought, but then the squirrel popped out with a little black box. Jane stopped copying her spelling words, checked to be sure Mrs. Alterman wasn’t watching, and leaned on her desk for a better look. No, it wasn’t a box; it was a suitcase. At first, Jane was sure she must be mistaken, but as she watched, the squirrel opened the tiny suitcase and began arranging nuts and acorns inside.

“Impossible.”

Mrs. Alterman lowered her red pen and frowned. “Hm?”

“Implacable,” Jane said. “I-M-P…”

Mrs. Alterman said, “Silently please,” and then returned to her grading. Jane glanced back out the window. The squirrel was packing in twitches and nervous half-starts, as if he were rushed and couldn’t decide which nuts to leave and which to bring. He ducked back into the tree hole and returned with a scrap of blue fabric that he clutched to his furry chest for a long moment. Then he laid it carefully in the suitcase before closing the bag.

The bell rang.

“How far along are you, Jane?” Mrs. Alterman asked. “Jane?”

Jane said, “There’s a squirrel…”

Mrs. Alterman took Jane’s quiz to check the scribbled spelling words on the back as the kids came in loudly from recess. “You can finish the rest tomorrow. No more daydreaming like you did this morning. Get to class, Jane.”

“But he has a suitcase—look.”

“A suitcase?” Mrs. Alterman stepped closer to the window. The squirrel and his miniature black suitcase were gone. “Where?”

Michael approached behind Jane. “Is there something outside?”

Mrs. Alterman brightened. “Your sister has made friends with a squirrel,” she said. “A squirrel with luggage.”

Before Michael could speak, Jane said, “Mrs. Alterman, you saw him on the branch. He was right there.”

“Why aren’t you in class?” Michael said.

“Thank you, Michael,” Mrs. Alterman said, and to Jane, “You can learn a lot from your younger brother. The first rule of success is punctuality. That’s spelled P-U, Jane.”
The class laughed, and Jane went into the hall just as the other teachers closed their doors. The bell rang again; she was late for math.

The day only got worse from there. After a lecture from Mr. Hendricks about how irresponsible and selfish it was to come to class late, she got a C- on her social studies test. Then she had to endure another language arts class, this time at the front of the class so Mrs. Alterman could smirk disapprovingly at Jane’s doodled-on English book and call on her for every other question.

Between classes, Jane went to her locker alone. The inside door was stickered with a photo of a gorilla and environmental bumper stickers: It’s Not Easy Being Green and Save the Humans!

Behind Jane, the leader of the popular girls, Alison, said, “What a loser. She doesn’t even have a cell phone. Do you know what an iPod is, Jane?” Jane tried to ignore Alison and her friends, but Alison continued, “So, did you see the new episode last night? Oh, that’s right—you don’t watch TV.” She nodded to a book. “Is that the stupid nature book you were reading by yourself at lunch? Is that worm on the cover one of your friends?”

Jane said, “My friends are worms? Look who’s talking.”

Alison slammed the locker, just missing Jane’s fingers, and the girls all laughed as they left.

After school, Jane sat at the top of the steps outside the side entrance, and when the last of Michael’s friends had been picked up, he joined her.

“So, you saw a talking squirrel?” he said.

“Shut up.”

“Let’s go get a soda,” Michael said.

Two blocks off school property was a corner convenience store called Napps. It was a dingy shop across the street from the water treatment plant and Sadley Community College, and it sold every­thing from grinning green Buddha candles and switchblades to buckets of chlorine and soda. Jane checked her watch: 3:35. Their father wouldn’t be there to pick them up until at least four o’clock.

“I don’t want to,” Jane said. “Dad told us not to leave the school grounds.”

“It’s only around the corner. Come on, I’m thirsty.”

“No.”

“Fine,” he said and got up. “I’m going then.”

“Michael…”

He started walking, so she reluctantly went with him. When they crossed through the school fence to a residential sidewalk, Michael said, “So, you had a bad day?”

“You could say that.”

Jane watched the tree branches sway overhead, and her stomach clenched. The leaves rustled in the wind. She stopped.

Michael said, “What’s up, Jane?”

“Something’s wrong,” she said. “Don’t you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“I don’t know.” Cars passed, and a pair of nannies walked by pushing baby strollers. They were both talking on cell phones.

“Come on,” Michael said again. “I’m thirsty.”

Jane nodded and continued with him to Napps, waiting by racks of candy bars and incense as Michael selected a drink from behind the sliding refrigerator door. I did feel something, Jane thought. I noticed something, as if part of the world were off balance or had suddenly changed to a different color. But what?

Michael bought his drink and said, “Are you going to tell me about the squirrel? What did Mrs. Alterman mean?”

Jane started to answer, then froze as they went back outside. A grizzled old man with white eyes—the frosted pupils of a blind man—was waiting with a fat German shepherd. The man wore a leather coat and blue cap, and he held the dog on a thick chain. Watching Michael’s soda, the German shepherd whimpered, and Michael took Jane’s arm as she stared at the old man’s eyes.

“Do you know the name of the world?” the man said. “Did she tell you?”

Jane didn’t move. “The name of the world—you mean Earth?”

“Do you know where it is?” He hobbled closer. “They will come for it very soon—do you understand?” The dog flopped onto his back, belly in the air, paws curled. “Well?” the old man said.

Jane said, “I’m sorry…?”

“He would like,” the old man said gravely, “a tummy rub.”

“Oh.” Jane knelt to rub the German shepherd’s belly, and the dog bicycled his hind legs, eyes closed as he wagged his tail and farted loudly.

Jane laughed. “He’s cute.”

“Finn,” the old man told the dog. “Mind your tail. She’s only a child.”

“Finn is a nice name,” Jane said. “Is there something wrong with his tail?”

“He’s a boxer,” the old man said. “Very dangerous.”

“A boxer? He looks like a German shepherd to me.”

“A tail boxer,” the old man said.

“Jane,” Michael said. “Come on.”

“Part Alice in Wonderland and part Chronicles of Narnia, Jane and the Raven King is a magical, empowering gem of a book that opens up an entire genre to female readers.

This is the story of Jane, a quirky preteen, whose job it is to save the world from a force called the Raven King who has imprisoned all the adults in a technological trance. Jane is a smart, savvy female character, complete with all the usual adolescent vulnerabilities: She is misunderstood at school and unpopular. She daydreams and prefers animals and reading over television and fashion.

As the novel opens, Jane is in school staring out the window when she spies a squirrel packing a suitcase. The animals in Jane and the Raven King foreshadow events to come, and the main character quickly realizes that all of the birds and various animals are leaving earth or “topside” as it will become known to her throughout her journey. At home, Grandma Diana is visiting and her parents are behaving oddly, overly involved with their cell phones and computers.

In the middle of the night, during a chaotic rainstorm, Grandma Diana gives an underwhelmed Jane a purple stone, a pet lizard breaks out of the house, and strange Sansi stick shadow people appear forcing Jane to flee her home with her brother Michael. Outside, Jane encounters a bizarre blind man who drives and his flatulent dog.

Everything changes when she meets an odd stranger. Soon Jane will journey through to the underground area of the world where the animals have all sought refuge and her tour guides change form. This portion of the book conjures up some plot parallels to Alice in Wonderland. Jane embarks on an amazing and imaginative journey, led by Gaius, a cat bobbin that gathers children with potential and puts them through numerous tests to determine which one is destined to save the world.

Throughout the story there are strange and wonderful creatures and multiple references to Jane’s family history and the ones who have been called on before her. Jane learns her grandmother was a famous voyager once responsible for saving the world. As the plot progresses, she learns that her grandma has left clues and hidden items for Jane to find. But will she be able to find them in time to save the world? What is the Name of the World? Will Jane survive the many tests that Gaius has in store? Jane and the Raven King is a very suspenseful novel and, in that sense, a real page-turner.

It was hard to say who enjoyed this book more: my two daughters or me. I am not a big fan of science fiction and fantasy. Even as a child and a teenager, although a prolific reader, I greatly preferred fiction. Judy Blume trumped C. S. Lewis in my library. Far too long this genre has been closed to females, as most representations in these books were male characters, who battled in a warlike manner. Yes, there are battles and violent moments in Jane and the Raven King, but Jane is a strong female character from a family of strong women. She thinks things through, puzzles them out and intuits the answers always with passion, empathy, and an eye to saving her family. Also, in true girlish form she has many moments of self doubt and her esteem is often tested, her confidence falters. She is entirely likable and realistic in that way.

Even after Jane knows she has been brought to Castle Alsod by Gaius as one of the chosen few, we see her vulnerabilities as she enters the room full of young strangers and cannot find a friend to sit with at meal time. It reminds Jane of the school cafeteria and lunch time never belonging to a clique.

The knife on the front of the book in the illustration was initially off-putting to my oldest daughter, age nine. The imagery of a knife is scary—often an indicator that there will be blood or death in a book, but here it is, as revealed near the climax of the book, a tool with a map engraved on its handle. Had this type of book been around when I was a young teen I might have grown into a great fan of the genre. Luckily I am to be able to share this with my daughters. I believe this book should be celebrated. We look forward to a sequel.” - The New York Journal of Books