About this item
What would happen if every grown-up in town fell asleep and the kids were left in charge? A great pick for fans of A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff and Greenglass House by Kate Milford or any reader seeking a quirky mystery with a big helping of silliness. The most important tradition in tiny St. Polonius is the annual Tasting of the Sacred Bear Liver. Each citizen over twelve must eat one bite of liver to prevent the recurrence of the Great Hibernation, when the town founders fell asleep for months. This year is Jean Huddy's first time to taste the liver. It doesn't go well. A few hours later, all the adults fall into a sleep from which they cannot be woken, and the kids are left to run things. At first, they have a blast. But then the town bullies take over the mayor's office and the police force, and pretty soon Jean begins to suspect that this "hibernation" was actually engineered by someone in town. Courage, teamwork, and scientific smarts unlock an unusual mystery in this delightful and funny story about one girl who inspires the kids around her to join together to save their home. "Definitely will not induce drowsiness. Utterly original." - Adam Rex, author of The True Meaning of Smekday and the Cold Cereal Saga "Imagine Lord of the Flies as a comedy set in snowy terrain and you have The Great Hibernation: a hilarious, whip-smart page-turner you don't want to miss." - Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, New York Times bestselling author of Book Scavenger and The Unbreakable Code
About the Author
Tara Dairman is a novelist and recovering round-the-world traveler (two years, seventy-four countries!) . She grew up in New York, received a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College, and worked for several years as a magazine editor, managing freelance writers that she never met face-to-face. While in that job, Tara realized that she could probably be tricked into publishing an article by a kid if the writing was good enough and the kid sent professional-sounding e-mails. Voilà: the premise for her first novel, ALL FOUR STARS, was born.Two sequels continued 11-year-old restaurant critic Gladys Gatsby's foodie adventures (THE STARS OF SUMMER and STARS SO SWEET) . Then came Tara's latest novel for middle-grade readers, THE GREAT HIBERNATION, about a town where all of the adults fall asleep, leaving the kids in charge. Her next book for children will be DESERT GIRL, MONSOON BOY, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan, due in May 2020.Tara currently lives full time in an RV with her family, traveling around the US and Canada. You can follow their adventures on Instagram at instagram.com/allfourstars.(author photo credit: Tiffany Crowder @ Crowded Studios)
