NaBloPoMo 2020 Day 4 Just finished reading the ancient book Mom dropped off

 Just prior to the pandemic, my parents moved from my childhood home into a retirement community. As part of the great exodus, Mom would show up at our place on the regular with big boxes of stuff she says is mine and that I need to deal with from here on out.

On top of a milk crate full of Holly Hobby dolls, I encountered this book:

The Grey King by Susan Cooper

I cracked open the book. It was given to me by my grandparents when I was really little. The inscription says:

To Stacey,

For Christmas.

Love Grandma and Grandpa.

The book was a Christmas gift.

Awww. I miss my grammy and grampy and it's the middle of a pandemic so of course I started reading the book immediately. It won a Newberry prize for chrissakes. And it was super short, as far as chapter books go.

The story started out Young Adult enough - this kid in Wales recovers from hepatitis on a sheep farm with his kindly aunt. Then on page like 4 suddenly The Dark unleashed Armageddon on The Light and all hell broke loose. 

I had a hard time keeping up with all the golden artifacts and invisible evil forest creatures. 

Around page 175, because apparently I'm a very unsuspicious sort of reader, I flipped the book over and took a look at the jacket. Turns out, this is the fourth book in a five book series.

Ha ha, funny trick Grandparents!
I'd tease them mercilessly if they were still around to tease :-)