Authors: J. A. White

The Whispering Trees (36 page)

Kim VandeWater placed the manuscript for
A Path Begins
on her colleague's desk, and for this act of kindness she has my eternal gratitude. Without Kim, the book you are reading right now might not have ever been published.

Andrea Offermann's illustrations continue to stun and amaze me. I actually
want
people to judge my books by their covers.

My second home is Ridgewood Avenue School, and I want to thank all the parents, teachers, andâof courseâstudents who have given me such incredible support
during this journey. Extra credit to Rennae Pelayo and the RAS Home and School Association, Mike Donovan, Keisha Harris, and my third-grade team: Kelly, Lauren, Beth, Lindsay, and, most especially, Jessica (bringer of lattes and good cheer).

Rob McCormack and Annie Tonsiengsom read the early drafts of these first two novels and pointed out all my dumb mistakes (in a nice way). Jack Paccione Jr. of Escape Goat Pictures went above and beyond to create a fantastic book trailer.

And finally, to my wife, Yeeshing, for keeping me sane during this time of deadlines and eighteen-hour work days. I couldn't have done this without you.

BACK AD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J. A. WHITE
is the author of
The Thickety: A Path Begins
. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, three sons, and a hamster named Ophelia that doesn't like him very much. When he's not making up stories, he teaches a bunch of kids how to make up stories (along with math and science and other important stuff). He wishes dragons were real because it would be a much cooler way to get to work. You can visit him online at
www.jawhitebooks.com
.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

BOOKS BY J. A. WHITE

The Thickety: A Path Begins

CREDITS

Hand lettering by David Coulson

Cover design by Amy Ryan

COPYRIGHT

Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

THE THICKETY: THE WHISPERING TREES
. Text copyright Â© 2015 by J. A. White. Illustrations copyright Â© 2015 by Andrea Offermann. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

White, J. A.

The whispering trees / J.A. White ; illustrations by Andrea Offermann. â First edition.

pages cm. â (The thickety)

Summary: “Deep within the dangerous Thickety, Kara and her brother, Taff, must figure out who and what to trust in order to escape and stop the evil Sordyr”â Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-06-225729-1

EPub Edition Â© February 2015 ISBN 9780062257307

[1. MagicâFiction. 2. Brothers and sistersâFiction. 3. Human-animal communicationâFiction. 4. Fantasy.] I. Offermann, Andrea, illustrator. II. Title.