Guardians of Ga'Hoole

Guardians of Ga'Hoole

The official logo for Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Author	Kathryn Lasky
Illustrator	Richard Cowdrey
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Scholastic Corporation
Published	2003-2008
Media type	Print (Paperback)
No. of books	15

Guardians of Ga’Hoole is a fantasy book series written by Kathryn Lasky and published by Scholastic.^[1][2][3] The series, which ended in 2008 with the publication of The War of the Ember, has a total of fifteen books. Apart from the main series there are a few more books and spin offs set in the same universe. The first three volumes of the series^{[not in citation given]} have been made into an animated 3D film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, directed by Zack Snyder.^[4]

Story

This series mostly follows the adventures of Soren, a young Barn Owl but later on follows Coryn, Soren's nephew.

In the first volume, The Capture, Soren, who lives in a nest with his parents and siblings Kludd and Eglantine in a forest kingdom called Tyto, is pushed out of the nest by Kludd. When he cries out to his parents for help, Soren is found and snatched by a patrol of the evil owls from the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, or St. Aggie's. Soren and other snatched owlets are enslaved into tasks such as sorting eggs and pellets, for reasons they don't quite understand. Owls at St. Aggies are “moon blinked”, a brainwashing technique caused by marching under the light of the full moon and endlessly repeating their true names to forget them so as to lose sense of self and will. Soren befriends a young Elf Owl named Gylfie (from the desert kingdom of Kuneer), who, like him, is resistant to the moon-blinking, and together they plot both to discover as much as possible about the true purpose behind St. Aggie's and to escape. The two also befriend a Spotted Owl named Hortense who has stunted growth and delayed development of her flight feathers. This enables her not only to pass herself off as an owlet, resist moon-blinking and rescue snatched eggs from suffering the same fate as the other owlets. She is eventually found out and is thrown off of a cliff by a St. Aggie's pit guardian, Finny. Soren and Gylfie manage to resist moon blinking, learn to fly with the help of an imperfectly moon-blinked owl named Grimble, and to escape with Grimble's assistance. Grimble is murdered the night Soren and Gylfie escape by Skench and Spoorn. After escaping, they then meet Twilight, an orphan Great Grey Owl who learned his survival instincts from the "Orphan School of Tough Learning", Digger, a Burrowing Owl, who lost his family to the St. Aggie's marauders and is extremely sensitive and philosophical, and the blind Mrs. Plithiver, Soren's former nest-maid snake. With the help of Hortenses's two Bald Eagle friends named Streak and Zan, they kill two of St. Aggie's patrols, the cousins Jatt and Jutt. The four owls form a band and fly away in search of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, where legend says the great knight-owls live who are dedicated to doing good deeds.

The second book, The Journey, tells of the four's journey and discovery of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. The four first set out with the intent of finding their parents. They make stops in various owl kingdoms, including The Beaks, an area similar to the one described by Tennyson in The Lotos-Eaters There they meet Ezylryb, the grizzled old Whiskered Screech Owl who becomes Soren's mentor, Martin, a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl with extraordinary intuition, Ruby, a Short-eared Owl with incredible flying skills, and Otulissa, a pedantic bookworm Spotted Owl who idolizes Strix Struma, seasoned leader of the Strix Struma Strikers. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight and Digger are selected for different "chaws", groups of owls that specialize in areas such as search-and-rescue, blacksmithing, and navigation. While on a chaw mission, however, the different chaws find a huge amount of owlets downed from their nest in the middle of a forest fire, all babbling nonsense about how the Tyto family of owls is superior to all other owls. While on this mission, Twilight and Digger find Soren's sister, Eglantine, among the brainwashed owlets. Soren is overjoyed to be reunited with his sister, but that joy is soon cut short as he discovers that Ezylryb, Soren's mentor, has gone missing.

Books in the series

• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 1: The Capture (2003)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 2: The Journey (2003)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 3: The Rescue (2004)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 4: The Siege (2004)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 5: The Shattering (2004)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 6: The Burning (2004)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 7: The Hatchling (2005)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 8: The Outcast (2005)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 9: The First Collier [from Legends of Ga'Hoole] (2006)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 10: The Coming of Hoole [from Legends of Ga'Hoole] (2006)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 11: To Be a King [from Legends of Ga'Hoole] (2006)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 12: The Golden Tree (2007)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 13: The River of Wind (2007)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 14: Exile (2007)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 15: The War of the Ember (2008)
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole: A Guide Book to the Great Tree (2007)
• Guardians of Ga’Hoole: Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole (2010)

Legends of Ga’Hoole

The legends are not part of the band’s experiences. A spin-off series of books was planned to begin, entitled "Legends of Ga’Hoole".^{[citation needed]} However, the series was canceled, and all books that were planned as part of the series were moved to the original "Guardians of Ga’Hoole" series, with the titles unchanged. The advance copy editions show the subtitle on the covers, although the books were not originally released with this feature. The three books—The First Collier, The Coming of Hoole, and To Be a King—are about the legendary young king Hoole, and his mentor, the first collier, Grank, along with the pacifist Theo. Grank was the first to find the Ember of Hoole, and King Hoole was the first to find the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. Hoole came under the protection of Grank because his mother was a close childhood friend of Grank’s.^[5]

Characters

Main article: List of Guardians of Ga'Hoole characters

Movie

• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole [based loosely on the first three books]

Video Game

• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole [based on movie and books] "Legends of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole: the War of the Pure Ones."

References

1. ^ Powers, Catherine. A (21 March 2010). "Katherine Powers reviews audio books for kids". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031802280.html. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
2. ^ "Books - The Capture (Guardians of Ga’Hoole, Book 1)". monstersandcritics.com. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/archive/bookarchive.php/The_Capture_%28Guardians_of_Ga%27Hoole,_Book_1%29/3601. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
3. ^ "CHILDRENS'S BEST SELLERS: April 9, 2006". New York Times. 9 April 2006. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE4D71530F93AA35757C0A9609C8B63. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
4. ^ Bowles, Scott (4 March 2010). "First Look: Wise owls fill a fantastic world in 'Guardians'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2010-03-04-guardian04_ST_N.htm. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
5. ^ Lasky,Kathryn."The Coming of Hoole".Scholastic Inc.p. 208.

External links

• Kathryn Lasky’s Official Website
• Guardians of Ga’Hoole Official Website
• Noble Guardians of Ga’Hoole
• Interview with Kathryn Lasky at BookReviewsAndMore.ca