Hagen, George.
GABRIEL FINLEY AND THE RAVEN'S RIDDLE
New York : Scwartz & Wade, 2014
IL 3-6, RL 4.8
ISBN 0385371039

(4 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Ravens love riddles. This is the way they can tell the good ravens from the bad. Long ago, ravens were our best friends…they watched over us and conversed with us easily. That was before a phantom raven named Corax went rogue and lured some others to the dark side. His new disciples were called valravens…

Gabriel Finley knew little about ravens, but was soon to learn a good deal more. When he rescued an orphaned baby raven named Paladin, he discovered his family’s long-kept secret: the Finelys had a special bond with these birds…they could talk with them, receive their protection, and even briefly blend into the bodies of their familiars for adventures in flight.

Gabriel loved riddles…his father had been a master of riddles right up until the day he disappeared. Aunt Jaz seemed to know a lot more than she was telling about his dad’s current whereabouts. With the help of Paladin and a very reluctant writing desk, he just might be able to rescue his dad from the clutches of the evil Corax.

From Brooklyn to Aviopolis, a thrilling adventure, indeed!  (Booktalk by the NH Great Stone Face Committee)

Booktalk #2

George Hagen sets the tone for his exciting middle grade fantasy novel with the dedication, the first of many riddles you will have the pleasure of solving throughout the book. Gabriel loves riddles, as did his father before him and, as it turns out, so do ravens! On his twelfth birthday, with the astounding information from his father’s diary racing through his head and the special key his dad left for him for this very day, Gabriel begins to realize that the time has come for him to search for his father, missing now for three years. After rescuing a baby raven Gabriel begins this new phase of his young life – one in which he can paravolate with the bird and will begin a huge adventure. With a mismatched set of new friends at his side, Gabriel leaves his Brooklyn brownstone for Aviopolis, an underground world where he hopes to find his father and his uncle Corax, who has become more monster than man. “You’ll always see me first in a running race, third in a marathon, fourth in a tear, but never in a dash! Who am I?”    (Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award DCF 2015 - 2016)