Olivia Brophie and the Pearl of Tagelus. Christopher Tozier
Olivia Brophie and the Pearl of Tagelus
Publication date: March 01, 2012
ISBN 978-1-56164-519-0
Papercover • $12.95 • 6 x 9 • 216 pages
Middle reader • Ages 8 and up
Olivia Brophie feels betrayed. She hasn’t heard from her mom who’s serving in the army in Iraq. And for no reason, her dad sent her to live with her crazy aunt and uncle in the middle of nowhere—the Florida scrub. It seems boring till bears follow her to school, coral snakes leave her gifts, and tree frogs start writing cryptic messages on her bedroom window.
Olivia is fascinated by the giant insect walkingsticks that her uncle tenderly protects. He turns out to be crazier than she thought with wild ideas about a mysterious device that controls the laws of the universe. He doesn’t know the half of it.
Along with Doug, a local eco-nerd genius, and Gnat, her videogame-obsessed little brother, Olivia discovers a vast underworld city that holds the secrets of history as well as the way to the future. With the forces of evil at her heels, she finds a brilliant pearl and must use its power to discover her life’s ultimate destiny.
Christopher Tozier was awarded a 2011 Individual Artist Fellowship from the State of Florida. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He lives in an unnamed Florida scrub where he often sees bears, coral snakes, and giant walkingsticks. Olivia Brophie and the Pearl of Tagelus is his debut novel, the first in the Olivia Brophie Series.
For more information: 800-746-3275 [email protected] Pineapple Press, Inc., P.O. Box 3889, Sarasota, Florida www.pineapplepress.com
The final book will have illustrations like the one below. This one illustrates the pie pan scarecrows in chapter one.
Olivia Brophie
and the
Pearl of Tagelus
Christopher Tozier
ATTENTION, READER:
This is an uncorrected set of proofs. Any errors will be corrected before the book is published. We offer you this early reader’s copy so that you might see what we will be offering well before the publication.
Copyright © 2012 Christopher Tozier
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Inquiries should be addressed to:
Pineapple Press, Inc.
P.O. Box 3889
Sarasota, Florida 34230
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
TO COME
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Design by Shé Hicks
Printed in the U.S.A.
Contents
Three Hunting the Bobwhite Witch
Four Tesla Seeds and Wolverines
To Melissa for setting love aloft. To Cheeto for fierce loyalty. To my father for quiet fire. To the bears in the woods just beyond the highway lights.
1
Pancakes to Waffles
There aren’t many ways of saying it and the whole thing seems overly complicated, but put as simply as possible, Olivia Brophie’s father did not want her around anymore.
This really should not have been a big surprise under the circumstances. In fact, her whole life started spinning out of control three weeks ago on her tenth birthday. A plain brown package arrived with no card, no return address, and strangely enough, no stamps. It was addressed simply to “Miss Olivia Brofee.” No one ever called her “Miss” and clearly the sender didn’t know her well enough to spell her name correctly.
“A secret admirer,” Dad quipped, his eyes sparkling.
“No way,” Olivia shot back. But the thought of it fired her cheeks so hotly