Middle Grade Science Fiction & Fantasy Author
Moongarden
FROM PIXEL + INK
In a future where Earth has become uninhabitable, a twelve-year-old girl finds a secret garden hidden below her elite lunar boarding school, uncovering a government conspiracy about failing
food supplies and the suppression of those with the ability to do something about it, including herself. A space-set dystopian series inspired by The Secret Garden.
"The storytelling is immersive and engrossing, touching on environmental issues, class structure and prejudice, and the struggle to find one’s truest self. Readers will be eager for the next installment in this marvelous, magical universe."
—Booklist, starred review
"Moongarden blooms with heart and adventure. A stellar update of The Secret Garden, woven with a little science-fiction, a lot of magic, a vibrant heroine, and a plucky robot sidekick to rival R2D2." —Victoria Aveyard, New York Times bestselling author
"Debut author Barry smoothly incorporates contemporary—and perhaps perennial—issues of elite education, pressure to succeed, corporate corruption, class divides, systemic prejudice, and environmental depredation while delivering a boarding school story in a believable off-world setting. Nicely realized, intriguingly complex, and well set up for sequels." —Kirkus Reviews
More Magical Details
The Secret Garden meets The City of Ember as an unlikely heroine confronts loneliness and crippling parental expectations, finding her seed of courage to weed out an intergalactic government conspiracy tied to failed climate change policy in this STEM-inspired series starter.
Centuries ago, Earth’s plants turned toxic, rendering life on the planet impossible, and humanity took to space to cultivate new homes. Myra Hodger is in her first year at an elite school on the Moon to train and develop her Creer in math as a Number Whisper—like her famous Number Whisperer parents. But she’s crumbling under the pressure, she doesn’t fit in, and worst of all, the tattoos that signal her Creer growing aren’t developing. In her heart, she knows she doesn’t have a Creer, and soon, everyone else will, too.
Wandering the school while cutting class one day, she discovers a secret lab hidden behind one of the unused classrooms, and beyond that, a secret garden overflowing with plants. Dangerous toxic plants.
But as Myra learns the garden isn’t a threat, she begins to wonder if she does have a Creer—one that died out when the Earth did. If she wants to learn the truth about the garden and herself, she’ll have to hurry. There are those who'll do anything to take these secrets to the grave.
Re-envisioning The Secret Garden for a new generation, Moongarden introduces a dynamic heroine who just might grow a revolution.
