Into the Labyrinth

What a relief when the old story-book is republished and the characters who live inside it suddenly discover they have Readers again -- lots of Readers!

Princess Sylvie finds herself rushing to get to her place whenever a new Reader -- whether in Boston or Bangkok -- opens the book. Her mother, the queen, is especially frazzled when the popular story is loaded onto the Web, a weightless, "virtual" world of unforeseen challenges.

To cope with the stress, Sylvie convinces the Writer to add a new character, who gives yoga instruction to the storybook's cast in those moments when they have time off. But stress proves the least of their problems as strange things start happening -- words get changed around, scenes disappear -- and Sylvie and her friends must launch themselves into the labyrinth of cyberspace to confront a twenty-first-century evil that threatens to destroy their world.

Roderick Townley's first book about Sylvie, The Great Good Thing, was a Top-Ten Book Sense Pick, praised by Kirkus Reviews as "utterly winning...a book beloved from the first page." Its sequel, Into the Labyrinth, was hailed by the New York Times as "a hopping fine read." The present volume completes the Sylvie cycle.

Mr. Townley has also published the novel Sky, described by VOYA as "one hell of a book," as well as volumes of poetry, nonfiction, and literary criticism. He has two children, Jesse and Grace, and is married to author Wyatt Townley.