The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel (English) Hardcover Book

Description: The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel, Jim Tierney Aboard "The Boundless," the greatest train ever built, on its maiden voyage across Canada, teenaged Will enlists the aid of a traveling circus to save the train from villains. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description All aboard for an action-packed escapade from the internationally bestselling author of Airborne and the Silverwing trilogy. The Boundless, the greatest train ever built, is on its maiden voyage across the country, and first-class passenger Will Everett is about to embark on the adventure of his life! When Will ends up in possession of the key to a train car containing priceless treasures, he becomes the target of sinister figures from his past. In order to survive, Will must join a traveling circus, enlisting the aid of Mr. Dorian, the ringmaster and leader of the troupe, and Maren, a girl his age who is an expert escape artist. With villains fast on their heels, can Will and Maren reach Wills father and save The Boundless before someone winds up dead? Author Biography Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and been adapted as an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Canadian Governor Generals Literary Award for childrens literature; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Childrens Novel of the Year by the London Times. He is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, Such Wicked Intent, and The Boundless. Born on Canadas Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Canada; in England and Ireland; and now resides in Toronto with his wife and children. Visit him at KennethOppel.ca. Review * "Canadian railway history, fantasy, a flutter of romance--and a thoughtful examination of social injustice--collide in this entertaining swashbuckler from the author of Printz Honor-winning Airborn."-- "Kirkus, starred review"* "Oppels (Such Wicked Intent) imagination and sense of adventure never disappoint, and readers should thrill to this rousing tale as it barrels ahead at full speed."-- "Publishers Weekly, starred review"* "Oppels...imagination and sense of adventure never disappoint, and readers should thrill to this rousing tale as it barrels ahead at full speed."-- "School Library Journal, starred review"* "An epic journey novel with a distinctive setting, a powerful sense of adventure, and just a whiff of steampunk."-- "Booklist, starred review" Review Quote "This middle grade book has a little something for everyone: adventure, mystery, fantasy, and romance.... Oppel ties everything together in a way that will grab young readers and keep them hooked until the end." Excerpt from Book Boundless THE LAST SPIKE Three hours before the avalanche hits, William Everett is sitting on an upturned crate, waiting for his father. The town doesnt even have a name yet. Nailed to a crooked post at the side of the train track is a messy hand-painted sign that says only: Mile 2553. Paint has dribbled down from the bottom of each number and letter. Yesterday when Will and his mother stepped off the train, the conductor shouted, "End of the line! Farewell Station!" But Will wasnt sure if Farewell was the towns name or if the fellow was just in a hurry to say "Good riddance." The station is an uncovered wooden platform. There is a water tower and coal shed to fuel the trains. A telegraph pole slings a wire to a shack, where the station master dozes on his stool, his crooked door shut against the November chill. The town feels like its just been carved from the forest. Behind Will is a halfhearted jumble of wooden houses set back from a street of churned mud and snow. There is a general store, a church, and a large rooming house, where his mother waits. Shes tired out after their five-day journey from Winnipeg, and so is Will. But hes had his fill of small spaces, and people everywhere, and he wants to be alone and breathe fresh air. Hes grubby. His hair needs a wash. Hes not sure, but he might have lice again; its itchy back behind his ears. In their rooming house the single bath was in high demand last night, and Will didnt get a turn. On the wooden planks beneath his boots someone has carved the initials of two lovers inside a clumsy heart. He wonders if hell ever put his initials inside a heart. He pulls his collar closer about his neck. The cold seeps through the worn patch under his right armpit. Hes too thin, his mother says. But right now his body doesnt want to be any other way. At least his feet are warm. The boots are the newest things he owns. The laces keep coming undone, though, even when he double knots them. He looks at the track, gleaming as though it has just been set down. Will imagines his father helping lay those long measures of steel. He follows the track west, where its quickly swallowed up by dense, snow-cloaked forest. His eyes lift to the towering mountains--like the very world has raised its gnarled fists to keep you out. How could you cut a road through such wilds? Clouds graze the icy peaks, painting restless shadows across the furrowed slopes of rock and snow. Thats the direction his father will come from. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. And Wills going to be here to greet him. From his coat pocket he takes his sketchbook and pencil. The sketchbook is homemade from the pieces of packing paper his mother brings home from the textile factory. Will has learned to fold the pieces in a special way and slit the edges to make a booklet of sixteen pages. A few quick stitches bind them together. He peels off his threadbare glove so he can get a good grip on the pencil stub. Across the tracks two big tents and several smaller ones are set up in an otherwise vacant lot. Amongst the tents are carts, some still loaded with luggage and crates. Horses nose the scraggly earth. Across the biggest tent is written: klack bros. circus. Several shabby men set up booths. The sound of their hammers echoes, lonely off the hills. Will chews at his pencil for a few moments, then tentatively roughs in the scene. Next he begins to capture the texture and folds of the canvas tents, the fitful light on the foothills. "What are you drawing?" He looks up to see a girl about his age standing before him. Why didnt he see her coming? She wears a drab gray dress, her straight, fair hair parted in the middle and pulled back into two braids. "Nothing much." He closes his sketchbook. With dismay he watches as she steps closer. Talking to people isnt something hes very good at, especially strangers. Especially girls. Beneath thick eyebrows her eyes are grayish blue and lively. When she smiles, he sees a slight gap between her front teeth. She isnt all perfect and pretty like Theresa OMalley, but theres something striking about her that makes him want to keep looking. Maybe if he drew her, he could figure out what it is. But hes better at things than people. People are very tricky. "Can I see?" she asks. He doesnt like showing people his drawings. Its something he mostly keeps hidden, especially from other boys, because they think its girly. This particular girl just waits patiently. Her face is awfully bright. He shows her. Her eyes widen. "Dang! I wish I could draw so well! Who taught you?" "No one. Just me, I guess." A couple years ago he was ill, and bedridden for weeks. As a trick to distract himself, he invented a drawing game. It didnt matter what he drew: a chair, a shirt on a peg, a shoe. He pretended his eyes were the point of his pencil against the paper. And as he moved his eyes very slowly over the outline of the object, he moved his pencil, too--without ever looking at the paper. He got so lost in it that he forgot about his burning ember eyes and aching limbs. Time disappeared. And he was often surprised at how accurate these blind contour drawings were--better than anything he could have done while looking at the paper. And when he recovered, he kept drawing, so that now he took a hand-stitched sketchbook everywhere. Without asking, the girl takes the book from his hands and starts turning pages. "Hey!" Will says. "And these, too! Wheres this?" She points to a picture of a trestle bridge under construction across a deep gorge. "The Rockies." She seems so friendly and interested, he cant really be angry with her. "Do you work on the railroad?" she asks. He laughs at the idea, though hes pleased she thinks hes old and strong enough. "My father does. Hes building the Canadian Pacific Railway." He feels proud when he says it. "I draw the things he describes in his letters." "Theyre so good, its like youve really been there." "No, I aint been anywhere really." He doesnt tell her that this particular sketchbook is a present for his father. He hopes Pa will like it, as a keepsake of all his adventures on the railroad. The girl turns a page and pauses. "Is that a sasquatch?" He nods. "Your fathers seen one?" "Look at this." From his pocket Will pulls his most prized possession: a tooth, yellow and curving to a sharp point, that his father sent back months ago. "This ones from a big male they had to shoot." She examines it with great attention. "A lot of people think theyre not real. This could be a bear tooth." Wills indignant. "Its no bear tooth! Theyre real. Theyre awful trouble up in the mountains." "How longs he been away, your pa?" "Three years. But hes done now. Were here to meet him. Were moving west." She follows his gaze up into the mountains and is silent for a moment. "You live here?" he asks. "Just visiting." "You waiting for someone too?" Hes heard from their landlady that the town will soon be flooded with men coming down from the work camps. The girl shakes her head mysteriously, then turns and steps off the platform. The workers have left a long plank across two rickety sawhorses. The girl hops up onto it. Arms out, she steps across, one foot in front of the other, chin high. Midway she does a handstand. Will blushes at the sight of her pantaloons. He knows he should look away, but hes so amazed, he cant stop watching. She walks the rest of the way across the plank on her hands, then flips herself upright and curtsies. "Youre in that circus!" he exclaims. "An acrobat?" "A wire walker." She hops down and returns to the platform. "On a tightrope, you mean?" Will has only ever been to the circus once, on a birthday, and he was enthralled by the people crossing the high hempen rope. "They call me the Little Wonder." She wrinkles her nose. "Its a silly name. Its just because I started when I was six. One day Im going to cross the Niagara Falls. Thats eleven hundred feet! But what I really want to be is a great escape artist. Therell be no chains that can hold me, or locks bind me." Will is speechless at her aspirations. "Try to hold me. I can escape any grip." "I believe you," he says shyly. "Grab my arm. Both hands!" She takes his hands and places them on her upper arm. Awkwardly Will clenches his fingers. "Harder than that!" He squeezes tighter. Then she does something, very simple and fast, and is free of his grip before he knows whats happened. "Thats something," he says. He nods at the tents across the tracks. "Whore the Klack brothers?" "Uriah and Crawford. Crawfords dead. He was the smart one. Its a pretty rotten mud show. But its work for the time being." Will feels suddenly childish. Unlike his father, the only adventures hes ever had have been in his head, or drawn in his sketchbook. This girl seems from another world. Looking at her is like catching a glimpse of unknown track: and immediately he wants to travel it to the horizon, to know whats at the end. "You could be an artist," she says, pointing at his sk Details ISBN144247288X Author Jim Tierney Short Title BOUNDLESS Audience Age 8-12 Publisher Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Language English Illustrator Jim Tierney ISBN-10 144247288X ISBN-13 9781442472884 Media Book Format Hardcover DEWEY FIC Residence Toronto, -CN Birth 1967 Year 2014 Publication Date 2014-04-22 Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2014-04-22 NZ Release Date 2014-04-22 US Release Date 2014-04-22 UK Release Date 2014-04-22 Pages 336 Imprint Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Illustrations Illustrations Audience Children / Juvenile We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:137584370;

Price: 55.67 AUD

Location: Melbourne

End Time: 2024-11-29T03:39:23.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 AUD