The Flint Heart

A robust and wildly entertaining fairy tale, freely abridged from Eden Phillpotts's 1910 fantasy and wryly retold by Katherine and John Paterson. An ambitious Stone Age man demands a talisman that will harden his heart, allowing him to take control of his tribe. Against his better judgment, the tribe's magic man creates the Flint Heart, but the cruelty of it causes the destruction of the tribe. Thousands of years later, the talisman reemerges to corrupt a kindly farmer, an innocent fairy creature, and a familial badger. Can Charles and his sister Unity, who have consulted with fairies such as the mysterious Zagabog, wisest creature in the universe, find a way to rescue humans, fairies, and animals alike from the dark influence of the Flint Heart? This humorous, hearty, utterly delightful fairy tale is the sort for an entire family to savor together or an adventurous youngster to devour.

Katherine Paterson is a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Her international fame rests not only on her widely acclaimed novels but also on her efforts to promote literacy in the United States and abroad. She is a two-time winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, and she has received many other accolades for her works, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, given by her home state of Vermont. Katherine Paterson also was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000. She lives in Barre, Vermont.

John Paterson Sr. (1932 - 2013) collaborated with his wife, Newbery Award-winning author Katherine Paterson, on Consider the Lilies, Images of God, and Blueberries for the Queen. He also collaborated with his son, John B. Paterson Jr., on Roberto’s Trip to the Top. 

John Rocco collaborated with Whoopie Goldberg on the picture book Alice and was Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering and served as pre-production art director at Dreamworks for the film Shrek. His children's books include Fu Finds the Way, Wolf! Wolf!, and Moondust, and his illustrations are also featured on the jackets of Rick Riordan's best-selling YA series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. John Rocco lives in Brooklyn, New York.