The Dark Hills Divide, the first of three books in the exciting new Land OfElyon series (www.landofelyon.com) from author Patrick Carman, is currently the #1 best selling book at the Boise,Idaho and Tri-Cities, Washington Barnes & Noble stores.Both stores have experienced a surge in interest after events featuring author Patrick Carman at their stores and highlighting The Dark Hills Divide as their recommended title for the summer reading program.

Gail Lindbloom, Community Relations Manager for the Barnes and Noble in Boise says, “Harry Potter fans are sure to find this new book an enchanting selection to place at the top of their summer reading list.” Lindbloom also said that Barnes & Noble stores are looking for an effective way to interact with local schools and the fact that Carman speaks to elementary students in every town he goes to is a big plus. Once word started getting out about Patrick’s presentation to students, more and more schools started requesting that he come speak at assemblies. “Mr. Carman has a great rapport with kids. As a 30 year teaching veteran it was exciting to watch him keep hundreds of kids spellbound for 40 minutes,” says Jack Drummond, 5th grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School.

The Dark Hills Divide buzz started last winter when Carman started visiting elementary schools.Within 3 months of self-publishing his book The Dark Hills Divide and selling nearly 5,000 copies just as fast, several publishers took notice. Eventually Scholastic won the bid and signed Carman to a 3 book deal to complete his Land of Elyon series.Craig Walker, vice president and editorial director for Scholastic in New York City, said his company expects the book to be a major seller in 2005. He said what he liked about the classic fantasy was the strong female heroine. “She’s one of these unexpected heroes, like a Frodo in Lord of the Rings,” Walker said. “Naturally he’s a native son up there, but there’s more than that,” Walker said. “I began to hear what Patrick was doing out there, the signings and school visits. He fits the Scholastic author to a T. We do so much of our business through the schools.”

Carman is making his way to Spokane on his Northwest Barnes and Noble tour May 27th – 29th. He will be visiting 6 elementary schools and signing books on Friday and Saturday. In between his school and store visits he will be available for interviews with the media. For more info on the buzz The Dark Hills Divide is creating check out: http://www.landofelyon.com/mediakit.html

About The Dark Hills Divide
This enthralling new series is set in a fantasy world in which animals can talk and enchanted stones can predict the future. In Book I, The Dark Hills Divide, the heroine, 12-year-old Alexa, has spent her life living behind the four-story walls that surround her village and the three others that make up Bridewell Common. But Alexa’s curiosity for what lies in the hills and forests on the other side sends her on a daring adventure into a secret world in which nothing is as it seems to be. Originally released by Amped Media, the series was purchased by Scholastic in March of 2004.

About Patrick Carman
A Northwest native, Patrick Carman lives in Washington State with his wife, Karen, and daughters, Reese and Sierra, now seven and nine. He grew up in Salem, Oregon, and graduated from Willamette University with a degree in economics. Carman then spent a decade living in Portland where he founded and ran an advertising agency. After selling the agency in 1998, he created a series of popular board games including “Applause,” and founded and built Mywebpal.com into the third-largest provider of online newspaper publishing in the U.S. before selling the company in 2002. In addition to speaking about his books the author speaks to youth and adults alike about the effect technology has had on culture and how reading can be used as an important (and entertaining) alternative to TV, radio and the internet.

For more on this story contact:

press@patrickcarman.com
www.landofelyon.com

Patrick Carman has been featured in the following print publications:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Miami Herald
Tri-City Herald
The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Everett News Tribune
The Dalles Chronicle
Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah)

TV appearances:

KTVB _ NBC Affiliate, Boise ID
KPER_ CBS Affiliate, Pasco, WA

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