The Girl with the Origami Map

The Paper Worlds Chronicles

Book 1: Secrets of the Shadow City

Every fold hides a door. Every door holds a story.

When twelve-year-old Maya finds a glowing square of paper in her attic, she expects an explanation. What she gets instead is a paper crane that hums, a holographic map that lights up the room, and a best friend named Trace who is deeply skeptical of everything except snacks.

The map leads them through a hidden door in a library wall and into the Shadow City — a dimension built entirely of folded paper, flowing calligraphy, and ancient scrolls. Somewhere inside its highest tower, Maya's grandfather Cassian has been frozen in time for one hundred and seventy-three days.

To free him, Maya must learn something she never knew about herself: she is a Folder. Someone born with the rare, inherited ability to fold reality itself.

But the Shadow City has a ruler — the cold and brilliant Archivist — and he did not invite them.

Secrets of the Shadow City is the first book in The Paper Worlds Chronicles, a middle-grade mystery and adventure series for readers ages 8-13. Perfect for fans of The Phantom Tollbooth, Coraline, and The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

Readers will love:

▪ A heroine who is brave in the specific way people are brave when they love someone fiercely

▪ A best friend (Trace) who is funny, loyal, and always has emergency chocolate

▪ A world made entirely of paper: scroll-buildings, a river of living calligraphy, and a newspaper fox made of Sunday broadsheets

▪ A villain who is not evil — just terribly, desperately wrong about what love means

▪ Origami instructions and a Folder's Glossary in the back matter

The Paper Worlds Chronicles continues in Book 2: The Library of Lost Things.

paperback-5.5x8.5 inch: $21

hardcover-5.5x8.5 inch: $25

ebook digital download: $6