From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-By the terms of a magical stone engraving, Princess Elizabeth of Graycliff and Prince Edward of Whitehill are being forced to marry before their 16th birthday-only six days away-or be turned to stone. But Elizabeth and Edward can't stand one another. Their only choice is to travel through perilous lands to Engravia and convince the engraver to change the terms of the contract. Determined to succeed, they face the sleepiness of Slothonia, the constant action of Energia, the continuous eating of Gluttonia, and a host of other equally challenging hazards. It takes all of their strength to counter their weaknesses in these magical lands in a subtle commentary on the power of unity. Naturally they fall in love through the course of the journey but, more importantly, they become friends first, and that's the fun in this unusual fantasy. Coleman's tale is fast paced, with allies and foes at every turn. The fairy-tale style and Armand's quirky pencil sketches will appeal to younger readers, and the elevated vocabulary will do much to engage the older crowd. Definitions of the more difficult words are included at the bottom of each page. With its quick, witty style and strange characters, this novel will be a hit with many readers.
Linda Bindner, Truman State University, Kirksville, MOCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
For as long as she can remember, Alice Scovell Coleman has wanted to be a writer. When Alice was in third grade, she served as editor-in-chief of the classroom newspaper "The Scovell Gazette." In a tell-all interview, eight year old Alice revealed, "If the student reporters don't tke their work more seriously, we'll never write a paper that the whole world will want to read." Alice's words proved prophetic; no one, not even the parents wanted to read the work of silly reporters, and the paper folded by June that year.
Ten years later, Alice was an English major at Harvard. She spent part of her time writing creatively, but much more time writing her thesis "Young Women Who Go Insane From Love Melancholia in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama." No one, not even the professors, wanted to read that work. After college, she attended NYU Law School and was a lawyer in New York City. She drafted many agrements, wills, and trusts. No one, not even the clients, wanted to read those.
Alice lives in Scarsdale, NY with her husband and their three children. With "Engraved in Stone," Alice hopes that she's finally written something that a small portion of "the whole world will want to read."
Illustrator Anjalé Renée Armand is a Los Angeles based artist. She recently graduated from UCLA with a double major in Studio Art and English/Creative Writing, and will attend graduate school to obtain an MFA in painting. In addition to producing art independently, Anjale looks forward to writing and illustrating children's books of her own.
