Monthly letter from Kathy Lasky

Dear Ga'Hoole Readers:

Well, I'm getting pretty excited. Less than two months until the publication of the next Guardians of Ga'Hoole book, The First Collier, which is the first book of three in what I am calling The Legends.

All lot of people have wondered why I decided to write these particular three books in the series that cycle so far back in time, to the very beginnings of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Well, I have always been a history buff. I love reading historical fiction and I love writing it as I did for the Dear America series and for the Royal Diaries. So I decided, why can't a fantasy series have a history. Why can't Ga'Hoole, the island, and its Great Tree have a history? And wouldn't Soren and Gylfie and Twilight and Digger and Otu-lissa and the Chaw of Chaws be interested in know the origins of the Great Tree? As soon as I asked these questions hundreds more came to me.

Who was the very first king of the tree?

Why was it called Ga'Hoole?

Who was the first singer of the tree?

How did they discover that metal could be forged in fires?

How was colliering discovered and who was the first collier?

You'll find the answer to these questions and more as Soren, Coryn and the Band begin to open those dusty old volumes that they find in a secret hollow within the old hollow of Ezylryb their great teacher who on his deathbed directs them to read these legends hid-den in his private library.

So look for the ninth book in Guardians of Ga'Hoole series The First Collier in April but it might even be in stores as early as mid March.

Keep reading!
Kathryn