Our Author: Pendred Noyce

When I was a child, I wanted more than anything to go to C.S. Lewis’s land of Narnia. My sister and I probed dark closets, leaped over rivers, and ran down hills with our eyes closed, calling on Aslan to transport us to that magical world.

Did we reach Narnia? I can’t tell you: Magic swears its users to secrecy. But we did find that the quickest route to a magical land passes through books and imagination.
At the beginning of Lost in Lexicon, Ivan and Daphne are bored. Normally, they would turn to TV or video games to drown their boredom. But at Aunt Adelaide’s, they discover a secret: Out of boredom, creativity is born. They enter a world of imagination and adventure.

That’s a world I want to help open for all children. Imagination can be a lifelong companion. We should nurture it when we’re young.
I wrote Lost in Lexicon for my son, to challenge and entertain him. A number of editors rejected the book as too brainy or too full of puzzling language and math. But kids handle the book just fine. Why do adults doubt children’s appetite for mental challenge? Kids deserve to experience the joy of thinking hard.

I’m convinced that kids are smarter than they think they are.
So please come enter the Land of Lexicon. Join Daphne and Ivan on their adventure. Meet quirky characters, brush up against big ideas, laugh a little, and enjoy.

Check out the view from Penny’s windowseat and visit her at her author’s blog.

Our Artist: Joan Charles

I grew up in a big family, in a house very much like Aunt Adelaide’s–filled with books, games, and imagination. As a child I read, put on puppet shows, wrote and illustrated a family newspaper, and played endless games of Parcheesi with my sisters on rainy summer days. My favorite thing to do was draw and make up stories, and that’s still true today. I love adventure, mysteries and puzzles, so it was great fun to illustrate “Lost in Lexicon” and help bring Daphne and Ivan to life.

Click here to see more wonderful characters, images, and magical worlds created by Joan Charles.