The Chaos Monster (Secrets of the Sky #1)

by Sayantani DasGupta (Author)

The Chaos Monster (Secrets of the Sky #1)
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

Ten-year-old Kinjal knows something strange is going on. But he does not expect his dog, Thums-up, to disappear before his eyes in the middle of the night! Even stranger, two enormous flying horses appear and insist on taking Kinjal and his twin sister, Kiya, to a place they have never heard of: the Sky Kingdom. The twins have no choice but to go if they want to see their dog again, even if that isn't why the winged pakkhiraj horses showed up in the first place. They have come to this dimension to seek help -- bees are disappearing, along with the nectar the horses need to survive. 

Whisked away to a magical realm, the twins must use Kiya's scientific skills and Kinjal's love of books and language to help the horses. Once there, they discover that the disappearance of the bees is more nefarious than they thought, and the plot goes all the way to the top.

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This title will be released on July 1, 2025, midnight

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Publishers Weekly

When 10-year-old Parsippany, N.J., native Kinjal witnesses his mother stretch out her arm "like it was a fire hose being rolled out" to redirect a bee midflight, he sets out to investigate the origins behind this bizarre occurrence. Upon recalling a similar story from Thakurmar Jhuli, a collection of South Asian folk and fairy tales that Kinjal's father occasionally reads to him and his science-loving twin sister Kiya, the siblings track the book down to a locked trunk in the basement. Once they free the tome, it summons a chaos monster that dognaps the tweens' beloved pet, as well as two winged horses, which land in the yard to whisk Kinjal and Kiya to the realm of the Sky Kingdom in pursuit. There they meet Princess Pakkhiraj, who informs the pair that the kingdom's bees are dying and that they must uncover the cause, or unfathomable harm will come both to the kingdom and Earth. DasGupta (Rosewood) launches an energetic new series with a strong environmental focus in this Bengali folktale-inspired fantasy adventure, which teems with action and humor. Fluid b&w illustrations by Tang (the Faeries' Promise series) depict fantastical sequences throughout. Ages 8-12. (July)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"A magical adventure bursting with humor, heart, and even flying horses!" - Sarah Mlynowski, New York Times bestselling author of Whatever After and Best Wishes

"Readers will love being swept away on adventures with Kinjal, Kiya, the themes of survival and our interconnectedness, and the magic of different realms. A perfect start to an exciting series for young fantasy readers!" —Hena Khan, author of Amina's Voice and the Zara's Rules series

Sayantani DasGupta
Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which -- The Serpent's Secret -- was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an E. B. White Read Aloud Honor Book. She is also the author of Debating Darcy, a contemporary young adult reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Sayantani is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she's not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books, and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781338766745
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Scholastic Press
Publication date
July 01, 2025
Series
Secrets of the Sky
BISAC categories
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV012030 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | General
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
Fiction
Animals
Magic
Fantasy
Fantasy fiction
Juvenile works
Horses
Bees

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