Snowbone (33 page)

A book is like a pirate ship in full sail. It's wild. Wonderful. Gloriously exciting.

The writer is the pirate captain, standing proudly on the deck, gorgeously attired in velvet and lace, with a big feather in her hat.

She isn't voyaging alone. Belowdecks, or up in the air, clinging to the rigging, there are dozens of pirates beavering away, doing all kinds of things. Without them, the ship would never even leave the harbor, never mind sail the seven seas.

And so, me hearties, love and thanks to:

Joan Slattery and Allison Wortche, my bold, adventurous Ship's Surgeons. Such steady-handed precision at sea!

Everyone at Knopf in New York. The finest crew on the Indigo Ocean.

Yvonne Hooker and the team at Puffin UK. Swashbucklers all!

Pat White at Rogers, Coleridge & White (London), Purser and Official Port in a Storm.

Rob Soldat, Sea Sage. Never more than a wish away.

And finally, thanks to Ray. Sea Dog, Husband and Work-shy Fop.

Cat Weatherill
is a performance storyteller, appearing internationally at storytelling and literature festivals, on British television and radio, and at schools throughout the United Kingdom. She grew up in Liverpool and now lives in Wales, a land of mist and magic.
Snowbone
is a companion novel to
Barkbelly
, Cat's first novel for young readers.

Peter Brown's
acclaimed picture books include
Chowder
and
Flight of the Dodo
, which
Publishers Weekly
called “an engaging and mischievous romp that marks the start of a promising new talent.” His illustrations also appear in
Barkbelly.
Peter lives in Brooklyn, New York.

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2006 by Cat Weatherill

Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Peter Brown

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in different form in Great Britain by Puffin Books, a member of Penguin Group Ltd, London, in 2006.

KNOPF, BORZOI BOOKS, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com/kids

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weatherill, Cat.

Snowbone / by Cat Weatherill; illustrated by Peter Brown. — 1st American ed.

p.   cm.

“Originally published in Great Britain by Puffin Books in 2006.”

SUMMARY: A wooden girl and her gang of wooden friends set out on a journey to save their people from a dark destiny.

eISBN: 978-0-307-49109-1

[1. Fantasy.]   I. Brown, Peter, ill.   II. Title.

PZ7.W35395Sno 2007

[Fic]—dc22

2006017476

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