“Author Edward Allen Karr spins a fascinating fantasy adventure yarn for middle-grade kids that will have them transported to a world full of magical swords, mysterious crows, and playful and clever cats.” Pikasho Deka’s review of Book 1 (Readers’ Favorite)
A World So Close . . . where Jayden Blue and his best friend, Raylene Hawkins, both seventh graders, travel with his cats, Hex and Halo. It’s a world that only they can see, a place where hearts and imaginations run hand in hand.
Prequel – Jayden Blue and the Gift to Imagine
Jayden’s cats, Hex and Halo, are having their own kind of fun. Or are they? Could he just be imagining their odd antics? But they share his surprise when he unwraps an unexpected present—the last one that he opens on Christmas morning.
It’s a gift that he might never have imagined. But it’s just the gift that he needed.
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Book 1 – Jayden Blue and the Sword in His Shadow
While dreading having to give a report in front of his English class, Jayden also finds a passageway to a place he’d never imagined could exist. With the help of Hex and Halo, Jayden and Raylene explore that world, one very close but still, unseen by anyone else.
And in that world, he finds something. Something waiting there just for him. And it’s just what he needs.
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Book 2 – Jayden Blue and the Call of the Wings
In school, Jayden is facing the prospect of having to run a race on Friday. Can Jayden learn to enjoy running? Can he possibly even win the race?
The secret awaits him in the world that he and Raylene, along with Hex and Halo, continue to explore. There, the crow has an important message for him, and Jayden understands the call of the crow’s wings. Running, for him, is never the same.
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Book 3 – Jayden Blue and the Lair of the Iron Lions
Jayden and Raylene can’t help but follow after the giant cats in the world they continue to explore. They dare to pass through a dark forest that appears as solid as a wall and on the other side, they’re welcomed into The Lair of the Iron Lions. And those lions, though fierce and fearless, are also in need of help from Jayden and Raylene.
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Book 4 – Jayden Blue and the Journey to Val ka’Yoom
Jayden and Raylene were asked by the giant Iron Lions to help with a conflict between all of the lions and someone (or something) known as Val ka’Yoom. On their journey, they’re helped by a long list of intriguing characters: a woodpecker, a fish, two chipmunks, a seal, a bunch of turtles, a flock of sheep, a goose, an owl and a blue jay, a wolf, and a bear and a squirrel. Almost all of them can talk. Some are even happy to bake and cook for them. Their journey ultimately leads them to the home of Val ka’Yoom, who is not what they expected.
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Book 5 – Jayden Blue and the Forest of Night Fallen
Back from their long journey to help the giant Iron Lions resolve their conflict with Val ka’Yoom, Jayden and Raylene feel the exhaustion from their recent adventures. But they return to their World So Close, and both of them must find their courage in a place where fear is waiting in every shadow. It’s a dark side of that world that the Iron Lions call . . . The Forest of Night Fallen.
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Book 6 – Jayden Blue and the Wait of the Sun
In this final book of the series, Jayden and Raylene know that they have learned from their harrowing experiences in the Forest of Night Fallen, and they’re ready to journey again to the mountain of Val ka’Yoom.
Standing on the trail that winds through the wildflower fields, they all see the sun setting and feel that world growing cold. They’re told by the iron lions that they can return someday. That sun, the giant cats say, will wait for them in A World So Close.
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