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The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst

2021 - Shortlisted

Shortlisted

The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst is the third stand-alone tale in Jaclyn Moriarty’s excellent Kingdoms and Empires series. Characters from previous books reappear to welcome readers back into the inimitable fantasy world of Spindrift but the star of this story is twelve-year-old Esther Mettlestone-Staranise. Esther feels ordinary and wishes that she was special. She is bullied by her teacher and neglected by her mother. When she discovers Shadow Mages and other evil forces are encroaching, she must act.

Much of the humour stems from the underlying idiosyncratic voice and dialogue as well as through the actions of eccentric humans and the imagined characters of Radish Gnomes, Crystal Faeries and Ogre. Within the context of this multifaceted, classy novel, the author helps young readers explore uncomfortable truths through whimsical humour. Esther and her peers and family must face discrimination, problems with the oceans and rising seawaters and take responsibility despite great suffering “to defeat evil and do good”.

 

Junior judges' comments

The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst, by author Jaclyn Moriarty, is an amazing novel that had serious themes with underlying humour throughout the entire story. I was so captivated I read it cover to cover in one weekend. I highly recommend this book to children aged 9+. I absolutely love this book so much that I want to go to the nearest bookstore and purchase Jaclyn Moriarty's other books, as she is such an innovative and creative author. 

 

 

About the author

Jaclyn Moriarty

Jaclyn Moriarty

Jaclyn Moriarty is the author of novels for children, young adults and adults, including the internationally bestselling Feeling Sorry for Celia and Finding Cassie Crazy, and the Colours of Madeleine trilogy. The first book in that trilogy, A Corner of White, won the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, the Queensland Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, and was short-listed for the Western Australian Premier's Awards. In the US, it was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book, was short-listed for the Nebula (Andre Norton prize), and was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. The second in the trilogy, The Cracks in the Kingdom, also won both the NSW and Queensland Literary Awards, was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Awards, and won the Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy. The Kingdoms and Empires books, a series of standalone books for 10 to 14-year-olds, include The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte MettlestoneThe Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars and The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst. The first two books in the series have won and been short-listed for a number of prizes. A former media and entertainment lawyer, Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, lived in the US, the UK and Canada, and now lives in Sydney again.