Are
you bemused by Bigfoot, nuts about Nessie, and fascinated with faeries?
Mystical and mysterious creatures have captured our imagination since humans
first began to swap stories over campfires. The world of unexplained and
unverified lifeforms now falls under its own fringe scientific category –
cryptozoology. Debut author Wendy Terrien has her own ideas about this secret
world and has turned them into an action-packed, magical mystery.
When
Jason Lex arrives home with his dad and siblings from his afterschool
basketball game to find his mom missing, he isn’t sure what to think. Has she
abandoned them or did something terrible happen to her? Night stretches into
the next morning and the police arrive on their doorstep with her bloodied
shirt in hand. While they never find a body, the conclusion based upon the
amount of blood on the shirt is that she was attacked by a mountain lion and
can’t possibly have survived.
The
family mourns for several months before Jason’s dad finally decides it would be
better for all of them to pack up and move several hours away to be near his
mother’s family. As the moving van is pulling away from the house, Jason looks
back at it one last time and he is convinced he sees his mom walk past a
window. Everyone seems convinced Jason is simply consumed with grief.
The
mystery continues to deepen when he meets his mom’s brother – an uncle he never
knew existed. His uncle is known around town as a quirky oddball who wanders about
gathering data for his research on mythical creatures as a self-proclaimed
cryptozoologist. As he begins to build a relationship with his uncle, he learns
about the secret role his mother’s family has played in maintaining balance between
cryptids and the human world; his mother was a Rampart Guard.
Terrien
has crafted a fun romp that is sure to please middle grade readers clamoring for
a new series after devouring Rick Riordan, JK Rowling, and the 000 section of
their elementary and middle school libraries.
The Rampart Guards was released February 25, 2016 by Camashea Press.
