Reminiscent of The Giver, this literary debut middle-grade fantasy is beautifully written and stunningly creative.

"A deep dive into a world-within-a-world, a heart-within-a-heart." --Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist

"The joys of the senses and the glories of creation shine in this radiant debut." --Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa

"Ginger Johnson's debut is as vibrant as the colors her characters wield in this novel about creativity, collaboration, and creation." --Megan Frazer Blakemore, author of The Water Castle and The Firefly Code

Ever since his brother Luc's disappearance and his father's tragic death, Ishmael has lived a monotonous existence helping his mother on their meager farm where everything is colorless. Until one morning a ray of light fragments Ishmael's gray world into something extraordinary: a spectrum of color he never knew existed. Emboldened, Ishmael sets out to find answers hoping his long lost brother might hold the key.

He finds Luc in the Hall of Hue, one of the seven creative workshops at The Commons, the seat of all new creation. Luc is completing the final days of his training as a Color Keeper, adding the finishing touches of color to a brand new world designed and built by a team of young artisans. Although his heart calls him to a future as a Color Keeper, Ishmael feels too guilty to leave the duties of his old life behind. But when a catastrophe destroys nearly all of the color and light at the Hall of Hue, Ishmael and Luc are suddenly at severe odds. Torn between his family and his destiny, Ishmael must learn when to let go of the past, when to trust the path ahead, and when to believe in himself.

 

Ginger Johnson earned a BA from BYU, a MA from Indiana University, and and MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She likes circles better than lines (especially when they’re rainbows) and lives in the woods near the sea with her husband, two sons, a coop of chickens, a pond of frogs, and a school of magic fish.