The Wonders of WondLa

"The Search for WondLa is Tony DiTerlizzi's masterpiece," according to Justin Chanda, v-p and publisher of S&S Books for Young Readers, Atheneum and McElderry Books. "It's like nothing you've ever read, and yet everyone who's read it feels like it's an instant classic." Twelve-year-old Eva Nine is being raised in a high-tech, underground Sanctuary by a robot named Muthr. Even though she's never encountered another human being, Eva believes that others like her exist--especially after she discovers "a small thin item" with an image of a girl holding hands with a human adult and a robot. And when an intruder breaks into their Sanctuary, Eva finally gets her wish to explore what lies outside it. "There's a surprise at the end, and we start to know what WondLa is or might be," Chanda hinted. "It's a reveal that will propel the rest of the series."

The Search for WondLa
(SSBFYR, $17.99, 9781416983101/1416983104, 496 pp, ages 10-up, September 21, 2010 laydown; also available on CD and for download from S&S Audio) is the first book in a planned trilogy. "It's set in a world that only Tony can conceive," Chanda said. "Not to make the Star Wars connection too strong, but Lucas created a mythology that we believe, with futuristic elements from the past--'Long ago in a galaxy far away....' Tony is creating characters and science, weapons and tools that are either futuristic or from the past, but either way it's otherworldly."
 
The project sent DiTerlizzi back to children's books from the 1930s and 1940s, from which he took his inspiration for the artwork and the production. Each book will be in two colors, and all of the books will include 50 to 60 illustrated pieces. At 496 pages, it's aimed at a slightly higher age range than DiTerlizzi's Spiderwick books, which he co-created with Holly Black. "It's a different side of Tony. This feels more cinematic," Chanda said. "Spiderwick, as fantastical as the world was, you weren't being introduced to a planet and different environments, and now you are."

DiTerlizzi also pushes the envelope with the use of augmented reality in three places in the book. "What hasn't been done yet with augmented reality is interaction with book content," Chanda said. "Here you'll hold up a page from the book to a computer webcam, and on the computer screen a map will spring out from the book. Readers will  be able to see where Eva has traveled and see an impression of the landscape." Readers don't need a webcam to get the full story but, Chanda said, the addition of the webcam takes the experience to a whole other level. "We need to always push the boundaries, and Tony is always looking to do something different," Chanda added. You can see a demonstration of "WondLa-Vision," the name S&S has given the augmented reality experience of the book, and a book trailer at WondLa.com.

Tony DiTerlizzi will sign ARCs at BEA in the S&S booth, #3940, on Wednesday, May 26, at 10 a.m.

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