Review
From the book jacket: Fifteen-year-old Sam Palmer’s life is dull—until a
bizarre bicycle accident leaves him in a coma. Sam awakens in Aurobon, a world
eerily similar to his own, only to discover that his “accident” was part of an
elaborate abduction by a ruler with a deadly agenda. Now Sam must team up with a
fearless girl pilot to outwit the enemy. Otherwise, dark forces will invade his
own world on insects the size of fighter jets. But that’s if the terrifying
marsh dogs don’t kill him first.
Comment: The Dreamwalker's Child, Voake's first book, was snapped up by English publishing company Faber & Faber in 2003, following a bidding war between four major UK publishers. Voake says that he has always been fascinated by insects, but it wasn't until he was tracked and bitten by a horsefly that he got the idea for...
Beyond the Book
Did you know?
Steve Voake spent eight years as head teacher of Kilmersdon Primary School in Somerset, England; known as the "Jack and Jill" school because it is said that the original well referenced in the rhyme is in the grounds of the school.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
However, Kilmersdon is just one claimant to this particular nursery rhyme.
Some say that Jack and Jill is a reference to the 17th
Century English King (also King of Scotland and Ireland), Charles I, who tried to reform the taxes on liquid
measures by reducing the volume of a 1/2 pint of beer, commonly known as a Jack,
while...
