Magonia

Gr 8 Up—Almost 16-year-old Aza Ray has a body that just does not want to keep her alive. The doctors are puzzled. Her heart is not in the right place, and her lungs don't seem to be able to breathe. She fights to survive with the help of her parents and best friend (and potential romantic interest) Jason. Then strange things begin to happen as Aza Ray hears the sounds of ships' horns and bird calls, which nobody else can hear. On the afternoon of her 16th birthday, she has the most serious seizure to date, and while she is in the ambulance on the way to the hospital again, something strange happens. Aza dies. Except that she doesn't die. In a bizarre clap of thunder and lightning, she is torn away from the human world and lifted to the skies, where sailing ships and incredible strange flying whales and bird-people dwell. Aza discovers that she is not human and that her lungs and heart work perfectly high in the air, in the world of Magonia. She is the daughter of a powerful captain and she learns that there is some undefined destiny that she must fulfill to save Magonia. The story continues as the heroine learns of her new world and Jason uses his prodigious Internet and mathematical talents to discover whether or not Aza is really dead. The book races to an epic confrontation that will leave readers thrilled, though confused, as the action continues.