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For Jennifer, who always had an extra lightsaber
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Fall Semester, 2011
The Simon Snow Series
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Spring Semester, 2012
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Acknowledgments
Also by Rainbow Rowell
About the Author
Copyright
FALL SEMESTER, 2011
The Simon Snow Series
From Encyclowikia, the peoples encyclopedia
This article is about the childrens book series. For other uses, see Simon Snow (disambiguation).
Simon Snow is a series of seven fantasy books written by English philologist Gemma T. Leslie. The books tell the story of Simon Snow, an 11-year-old orphan from Lancashire who is recruited to attend the Watford School of Magicks to become a magician. As he grows older, Simon joins a group of magiciansthe Mageswho are fighting the Insidious Humdrum, an evil being trying to rid the world of magic.
Since the publication of Simon Snow and the Mages Heir in 2001, the books have been translated into 53 languages and, as of August 2011, have sold more than 380 million copies.
Leslie has been criticized for the violence in the series and for creating a hero who is sometimes selfish and bad tempered. An exorcism scene in the fourth book, Simon Snow and the Selkies Four, triggered boycotts among American Christian groups in 2008. But the books are widely considered modern classics, and in 2010, Time magazine called Simon the greatest childrens literary character since Huckleberry Finn.
An eighth book, the last in the series, is set to be released May 1, 2012.
Publishing history
Simon Snow and the Mages Heir, 2001
Simon Snow and the Second Serpent, 2003
Simon Snow and the Third Gate, 2004
Simon Snow and the Selkies Four, 2007
Simon Snow and the Five Blades, 2008
Simon Snow and the Six White Hares, 2009
Simon Snow and the Seventh Oak, 2010
Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance, scheduled to be released May 1, 2012
ONE
There was a boy in her room.
Cath looked up at the number painted on the door, then down at the room assignment in her hand.
Pound Hall, 913.
This was definitely room 913, but maybe it wasnt Pound Hallall these dormitories looked alike, like public housing towers for the elderly. Maybe Cath should try to catch her dad before he brought up the rest of her boxes.
You must be Cather, the boy said, grinning and holding out his hand.
Cath, she said, feeling a panicky jump in her stomach. She ignored his hand. (She was holding a box anyway, what did he expect from her?)
This was a mistakethis had to be a mistake. She knew that Pound was a co-ed dorm. Is there such a thing as co-ed
rooms?
The boy took the box out of her hands and set it on an empty bed. The bed on the other side of the room was already covered with clothes and boxes.
Do you have more stuff downstairs? he asked. We just finished. I think were going to get a burger now; do you want to get a burger? Have you been to Pears yet? Burgers the size of your fist. He picked up her arm. She swallowed. Make a fist, he said.
Cath did.
Bigger than your fist, the boy said, dropping her hand and picking up the backpack shed left outside the door. Do you have more boxes? Youve got to have more boxes. Are you hungry?
He was tall and thin and tan, and he looked like hed just taken off a stocking cap, dark blond hair flopping in every direction. Cath looked down at her room assignment again. Was this Reagan ?
Reagan! the boy said happily. Look, your roommates here.
A girl stepped around Cath in the doorway and glanced back coolly. She had smooth, auburn hair and an unlit cigarette in her mouth. The boy grabbed it and put it in his own mouth. Reagan, Cather. Cather, Reagan, he said.
Cath, Cath said.
Reagan nodded and fished in her purse for another cigarette. I took this side, she said, nodding to the pile of boxes on the right side of the room. But it doesnt matter. If youve got feng shui issues, feel free to move my shit. She turned to the boy. Ready?
He turned to Cath. Coming?
Cath shook her head.
When the door shut behind them, she sat on the bare mattress that was apparently hersfeng shui was the least of her issuesand laid her head against the cinder block wall.
She just needed to settle her nerves.
To take the anxiety she felt like black static behind her eyes and an extra heart in her throat, and shove it all back down to her stomach where it belongedwhere she could at least tie it into a nice knot and work around it.