Guardians of Ga'Hoole 06 - The Burning

the War of the Ice Claws
    CLEVE OF FIRTHMORE: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, of the noble family of Krakor, medical student, pacifist
    TWILLA: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, attendant of Ifghar at Glauxian Brothers Retreat
    MOSS: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, ancient warrior, former commander of the Glauxspeed division of the Kielian League; old friend of Ezylryb
    HOKE OF HOCK: Kielian snake, retired supreme commander of stealth unit of the fighting snakes of the Kielian League

A peek at
THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
Book Seven: The Hatchling

    I t’s the hatchling,” a young owl said as the group watched Nyroc, only son of the great warrior Kludd, begin a power dive. He grasped a charred branch from the ground in his beak and in one swift movement rose seamlessly again into the air brandishing it before him. He had performed the retrieval perfectly and was swinging the branch with great style. And this was just his first flight. A power dive on a first flight was an outrageous and daring maneuver to attempt and he had executed it flawlessly. He then carved a perfect figure eight in the sky above the two large peaks known as the Great Horns. This was followed by spiraling descent to a slide-in landing on the ledge where his elders perched. His angle of approach was superb. Then, in front of his mother and her top lieutenants, the hatchling raised his starboard wing and shreed, “Hail, Kludd! Supreme Commander of the Tytonic Union of Pure Ones! Hail, Her Pureness General Mam, Nyra, beloved mate of the late High Tyto Kludd!”

About the Author
    Kathryn Lasky has had a long fascination with owls. Several years ago, she began doing extensive research about these birds and their behaviors. She thought that she would someday write a nonfiction book about owls illustrated with photographs by her husband, Christopher Knight. She realized, though, that this would indeed be difficult since owls are shy, nocturnal creatures. So she decided to write a fantasy about a world of owls. Even though it is an imaginary world in which owls can speak, think, and dream, she wanted to include as much of their natural history as she could.
    Kathryn Lasky has written many books, both fiction and nonfiction, including Sugaring Time, for which she won a Newbery Honor. Among her fiction books are The Night Journey, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and Beyond the Burning Time, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, as well as the Daughters of the Sea and Wolves of the Beyond series. She has also received the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Washington Post Children’s Book Guild Award for her contribution to nonfiction.
    Lasky and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Guardians of Ga’Hoole
    Book One: The Capture
    Book Two: The Journey
    Book Three: The Rescue
    Book Four: The Siege
    Book Five: The Shattering
    Book Six: The Burning
    Book Seven: The Hatchling
    Book Eight: The Outcast
    Book Nine: The First Collier
    Book Ten: The Coming of Hoole
    Book Eleven: To Be a King
    Book Twelve: The Golden Tree
    Book Thirteen: The River of Wind
    Book Fourteen: Exile
    Book Fifteen: The War of the Ember
A Guide Book to the Great Tree
Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole

Copyright
    No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
    First Printing, November 2004
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
    eISBN 978-0-545-28337-3
    Text copyright © 2004 by Kathryn Lasky. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
    Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
    Cover design by Steve Scott