Halpern, Jake. Dormia.

Halpern, Jake. Dormia.
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2009 506p 17.00 978-0-547-07665-2 ms/jr
Alphonso Perplexon comes from the mysterious county of Dormia where people have the ability to do amazing feats all while they are asleep. Alphonso unknowingly has the means to save Dormia, if only he can get there in time.
As Alfonso wakes in the top of a tree, we know that he is no ordinary 12-year old. Well, this is just the latest episode of his strange sleep walking behavior. Once, during his sleep walking he accidentally cracked open an old rattle and some strange seeds fell out. Out of these seeds grows an amazing color changing plant. This plant is a Dormian Bloom, and is vital to the people of Dormia. Uncle Hill, the long long brother of Alfonso's late father, has just turned up and at the same time so has a mysterious package that bangs, thumps and rattles. As Uncle Hill is telling Alfonso, his mother and grandfather about Alfonso's connection to Dormia, the package finally breaks open and out leaps the Dragoonya Plants of War. These fierce snapping plant with actual teeth, erupts into the greenhouse where the Dormian Bloom is housed. The family is just barely able to save the Bloom but in the ferocious battle with the Plants of War, grandfather is caught and his leg is broken in their jaws. Uncle Hill manages to get everyone away and the adventure begins. There are so many legs on this breakneck journey that it moves the story forward at a whirlwind pace. Alfonso and Uncle Hill solve puzzles, encounter more than a few eccentrics, are stalked by a mysterious character with all spooky eyes and all while they struggle to reach Dormia in time to save the country. The action is intense right up to the end. Spadaro, Trish