Driven to avenge the murder of her royal parents & reclaim her lost kingdom, a daring young heroine & would-be queen journeys to the besieged city on the plain to seek out its evil conqueror, the Usurper. Helprin's spellbinding tale reveals a city veiled in snow, at once divine & deadly. Evocatively told & beautifully rendered, it will enchant readers of all ages. Stunning color illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg capture the exhilaration of the story -- from the pulse of the masses in the palace square to the wrath of the bloodthirsty Usurper who scours the city streets after curfew, to the opulence of an intimate dinner party set for a thousand guests.

HAI HAS ALWAYS been an outsider. With a falcon mother and a deceased cobra father, she is considered a mongrel by most, an ally by some, and a friend by few. Hai's broken falcon wings are a painful reminder of the life she once led on the island of Ahnmik. And here in Wyvern's Court, the avian and serpiente royal family keep their distance, refusing to acknowledge her cobra bloodline. They know that Hai's magic is so volatile, she can barely control it, and images of the past and future threaten to overwhelm her.When Hai's cousin, Oliza Shardae Cobriana, abdicates the throne of Wyvern's Court, Hai has visions only of destruction: the serpiente king Salem, dying in her arms; the dutiful guard, Nicias, unable to save a generation of children; and Wyvern's Court engulfed in flames.Now Hai will do anything to protect her new home - even if it means betraying the very people who need her most.

Review In this adventure story for the entire family anything does! It is a story of childhood innocence and world peace. -- Ladybug PressThis book is an innovative Masterpiece for young and old. -- New WavesThis is a still more revolutionary contribution to children's literature than Harry Popper... -- Mariv Product Description Peace Flower is a story which can be read from the age of ten to a hundred and ten. It is an imaginative tale of fantastic adventures in space, to find the Peace Flower in the Future and bring it back to earth as it does not exist in our present. Lee and Ronni two brave children face the terrible nuclear giant Nuki, who tries to stop them from bringing peace on earth, and they triumph. The book has been adopted by many schools and colleges to teach peace education. It is available in English, in Hebrew, and in Arabic. It is also available on tape, from Ladybug Press, Ca. About the Author Ada Aharoni is an Israeli poet, writer, and lecturer. She writes in English and Hebrew and has published twenty two books to date that have been translated into several languages. She believes that culture and literature can help in healing the urgent ailments of our global village, such as war and conflict, and the themes of peace and conflict resolution are major ones throughout her works. She studied at London University, where she earned an M. Phil. Degree on Henry Fielding, and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she was awarded a Ph.D. on: Saul Bellow, the Nobel Prize laureate. Her first novel, The Second Exodus, was published in 1983, and To Alexandria, Jerusalem and Freedom appeared in 1985. Her historical novel From The Nile to The Jordan, was published in 1994; and in 1996 she published The Peace Flower, a fantasy for young and old, which has been compared to St. Exupery's Little Prince. She is likewise one of the editors of the book: Saul Bellow: A Mosaic, that covers the First International Saul Bellow Conference, which she initiated and chaired at Haifa University. Among her published books are eight collections of poems in Hebrew, English, French and Arabic, and two books of translations of Israeli poetry, including Shin Shalom's New Poems. She is the Editor of the Anthology: A Song to Life and to World Peace, as well as of Waves of Peace (1997), dedicated to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin. She is the founder and editor of the Literary Magazine Galim: Waves (1987-1997), and the electronic journals internet Horizon: Pave Peace, and Poetry Israel: Lirit, featuring Israeli poets in English translation. Her latest published book is: You and I Can Change the World (Jan. 2000). Among her many prizes and awards are: The British Council Award, the Keren Amos President Award, the Haifa and Bremen Prize, The World Academy of Arts and Culture Award, the Korean Gold Crown of World Poets Award, the Shin Shalom Prize, the Yunus Emre Award, the Rachel Prize, and she was chosen as one the Hundred Global Heroines in Rochester, N.Y, in 1998. She was also awarded the Honorary Award of HSJE: The World Historical Society of the Jews from Egypt, for her "devoted and unmatched efforts to promote the history of the Jews from Egypt, through her visionary literature and poetry proclaiming peace in the world." She is President of the XIII World Congress of Poets (Haifa, Israel, 1992), and the founder and President of IFLAC: the International Forum for the Culture and Literature of Peace, and convener of PTLC the "Pave Peace Through Literature and Culture" commission of IPRA: the International Peace Research Association. She is also the founder and General Director of "The Bridge: Jewish and Arab Women for Peace in the Middle East." Ada Aharoni has taught literature and sociology at the University of Haifa, and sociology and Conflict Resolution, in the general studies department of the Technion in Haifa. She has been a guest lecturer and visiting professor at several American and European universities,