Book 1 of “Infinity Ring” series
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Retail Price: $12.99
ISBN: 978-0-545-38696-8
Ages: 8-12, Grades: 3-7
Pages: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
In “Mutiny in Time” (Book 1 of a new Scholastic alternative-history, time travel series entitled “Infinity Ring”), history is broken, and a long-feared Cataclysm seems imminent. The capital of the United States is Boston. Lincoln’s face is nowhere to be seen on Mount Rushmore. Everyone is buzzing about the French royal wedding. And an international group of men and women known as the “SQ” is more powerful than kings, richer than nations, and more fearsome than armies. When best friends, Dak Smyth and Sera Froste, stumble upon the key to time travel – a hand-held device known as Infinity Ring – they’re swept up in a centuries-long, clandestine war for the fate of humankind. Recruited by the “Hystorians,” a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone completely and disastrously off-course. Now it’s up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the “Great Breaks” and to save Dak’s missing parents while they are at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!
While in New York City at the Book Expo America last week, I discovered this phenomenal seven-book series on time travel for children with an online game component. With the advent of the groundbreaking and international bestselling “The 39 Clues”, the multi-platform series was firmly established in children’s publishing. Multiple books and more than 14 million copies later, the engaging nature of mixing media is a winner among middle grade students. Multi-platform series may be just the incentive some students need to embrace a passionate reading life.
Coming in Fall 2012 and written by series architect, James Dashner (author of the bestselling “Maze Runner” trilogy) and a dream team of bestselling and critically acclaimed authors including Carrie Ryan, Lisa McMann, Matt de la Pena, Matthew Kirby, and Jennifer A. Nielsen, “Infinity Ring” is an epic time-travel adventure told in seven books and seven original online episodes. A subversively educational adventure series synergizing books, an interactive “Hystorian’s Guide” map feature, and a fully-immersive online game experience, middle grade readers travel back in time to fix history and interact with other characters, and explore key events alongside Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln, and other famous historical figures featured in the books.
Unlike “Harry Potter” and “The 39 Clues,” Scholastic’s latest series will be released at a time when many preteenagers own or have access to e-readers. Children reading “Infinity Ring” could skip paper entirely, reading the books and playing the online game on a smartphone or a tablet.
At the Book Expo America, James Dashner said, “It’s so different from when I was a kid, when they just pushed the classics on you. I think parents and schools are figuring out now that we need to associate reading with fun. Multiplatform publishing is just a new, innovative way to do that.”
For more information, check out www.infinityring.com. Look for it in stores on August 28, 2012!
Victoria Andrew,
The Literary Savant
