by Sayantani DasGupta (Author)
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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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."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