The Silver StrandEver since twelve year old Isabelle Tresdon’s silver strand of hair sprouted, it’s been nothing but trouble: bleeding pink dust and sparking like a firecracker. Refusing to be known as the girl with the freaky, grandma hair, she wishes it never grew and the hair withers and tarnishes.
The only problem is, the strand is Isabelle's source of magic, and she can transform particles of energy into matter. It's also her ticket into Mastermind Academy, a secret school inside the earth’s core. Five days remain before the strand drains her magic and life, forcing Isabelle to enter into a deal with two trickster Masterminds to save it. But what she doesn't count on is there is more at stake than just her life.
The Silver Strand, a MG Fantasy Adventure for 9-12 year olds, is book 1 in the Mastermind Academy Series.
Excerpt (Bear in mind Isabelle the protagonist has been transformed into a toad)
The toad puffed out his chest, emphasizing the yellow and brown streaks across it. “I’m Mozzy. Named after my favorite food, mosquitoes.” He shoved his webbed hand into hers and shook it.
“I’m Isa....” She couldn’t use her real name. It’d sound too human. “I’m Warterella. Named after all my warts.” She flashed her warty back.
“Strange name.” Mouth parted, he stretched out his neck to admire her back, pulling loose skin folds tighter. Every time she shifted her back away from him, he’d shuffle over to inspect it. She sighed and let him study her. “Has anyone ever told you your warts are stunning?”
The thought of anyone finding warts attractive made Isabelle shudder. Unsure how to respond, for
she’d never been told that before and hoped to never again, Isabelle shifted from foot to foot. “Um, never.”
“Uh, that’s not to say that you don’t have lovely mustard-colored eyes.” He stuttered on the words. “I just think every single wart tells me something different about a toad’s character.”
Isabelle looked at him as if he were loopy. Bats squawked in the tree above, seeming to agree with her.
He pressed a wart on her shoulder. “This one here tells me you’re mending a broken heart.” His head pulled back and four chins formed. Staring at it as if he needed reading glasses, he cried, “Oops. Misread it. You’re mending something. Can’t tell what it is.”
Isabelle coughed back a whimper in her throat, and focused on the frog chorus in the background.
Mozzy wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Now, now. Dwelling on the pain doesn’t help. And I should know. I’ve attended forty-nine funerals for family members in the last year alone. But you don’t see me crying over spilt mosquito juice.” Although his voice was surprisingly jolly for a toad delivering such tragic news, Isabelle almost fainted at those odds. Especially when her father was a major contributor to a toad's low chances of survival.
Author L.J. ClarksonOne thing you need to know about LJ Clarkson is that she tells BIG lies. She tells everyone that she gave up her career as an Environmental Engineer and Project Manager to write full time. But that's not entirely true. Ten percent of the time she sleeps in. Fifteen percent of her day, she spends surfing the internet, researching for new books and her business. Ok, fine. Two percent is for research. But she's only admitting it so she doesn't end up like Boldrick. For eighteen point seven five percent of her day, she runs her promotional and support site for authors, called Indicated (www.indicated.com.au). The rest of her time involves writing, reading, watching movies and TV, walking her dogs and falling asleep whenever her boyfriend talks technical computer lingo. Truthfully, she hates early mornings, mondays, grammar (yuck! just ask her poor editor!), broccoli and cleaning. If you would like to drop her and line and let her know what you think of the book, she would love to hear from you. Just not before 8:30am in the morning.
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