Patrick Carman’s The Dark Hills Divide was the #1 book in the school market for 2004. It sold more copies than any other book in the Scholastic Fairs system — a book fair the publisher holds in 80,000 schools annuallly. Book II in The Land of Elyon three-part series, Beyond the Valley of Thorns released a few weeks ago, so I caught up with Pat to get his thoughts on how things are going and what’s next. Catching UpSuccess is treating him well. The Dark Hills Divide is still holding onto the Youth Fiction bestseller list (New York Times) at #10 after twenty-five weeks on the list, with Book II: Beyond the Valley of Thorns sitting pretty at #2. With over a million copies of the two Land of Elyon books in print, Carman is comfortably holding his own against the likes of J.K. Rowling and Christopher Paolini. Still, it’s not easy, especially with all of the book touring he does, which can be “a grind,” he says. Plus, “it’s always a challenge in youth fiction when your books have no wizards, dragons, or princesses. It’s rough out there!” But he playfully adds, “Hey, I was able to afford the new Switchfoot album. Man those guys are good.” Book IIThe second part of any three-part story is typically seen as the place where “the plot thickens,” and things begin to turn darker and intensify, in anticipation of the third act and its denouement. When asked if this “rule” applies to The Land of Elyon trilogy, he replies, “When I wrote the first book, I wanted it to stand alone. So The Dark Hills Divide was developed as part of a trilogy that would be satisfying if you never read the rest of the series.”That’s not true of the second book,” he continues, “which is inextricably linked to the first book. For me, the larger story takes hold in Beyond the Valley of Thorns. I visited two hundred and fifty schools during the past twelve months, and found that kids are really looking for something bigger than themselves.” Beyond the Valley of Thorns, he says, is where those classic themes emerge and take root. I asked Pat what his favorite scene is in Beyond the Valley of the Thorns. He cited the scene after Alexa arrives in the City of Dogs. It’s at this point, he says, that the story has been sufficiently developed that you know what’s at stake, yet there are plenty of unanswered questions still remaining. The plot is appropriately thick, in other words. “When you arrive in the City of Dogs,” he says, “there’s this wonderful race-to-the-finish feeling, which is a feeling I love when I’m reading or writing. Near the end is also a lot of fun because several twists are revealed that readers weren’t expecting and the setup for a shameless cliffhanger occurs. As an author, it’s one of the most enjoyable things I can think of to surprise the reader with unexpected results.”

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