Read The Gravity Keeper Online
Authors: Michael Reisman
The Gravity Keeper
IMON
B
LOOM,
THE
GRAVITY KEEPER
IMON
B
LOOM,
THE
GRAVITY KEEPER
MICHAEL REISMAN
DUTTON CHILDREN'S BOOKS
A division of Penguin Young Readers Group
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) ⢠Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England ⢠Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) ⢠Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) ⢠Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India ⢠Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) ⢠Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa ⢠Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This book is published in partnership with Walden Media, LLC. Walden Media and the Walden Media skipping stone logo are trademarks and registered trademarks of Walden Media, LLC, 294 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Michael Reisman
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
CIP Data is available.
Published in the United States by Dutton Children's Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
www.penguin.com/youngreaders
ISBN: 978-1-1012-0070-4
This book is dedicated to my parents, without whom I wouldn't be here.
First, I want to applaud the late Douglas Adams, whose
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
really is my favorite book. I need to thank my mom, dad, grandma Elsie, sister Michele, and the rest of my family for moral, emotional, financial, and genetic support; Damon Ross for introductions and advice; my agent Nancy Gallt for her prowess and patience with me; Debbie Kovacs and Eloise Flood for my first book sale; supercool Margaret Wright for her aid in shaping my manuscript; and Mark McVeigh for shepherding the book to publication.
I am truly grateful for friends' reading and feedback: Yaniv; Jo and Angela; Ira; Laura, Jonathon, and Danielle; Julia; Larry; Stacy; Daniel; and more. Eternal thanks for wisdom, listening, and computer help, especially from Amir, Russ, Kenny, and Alison. Special gratitude goes to physics consultant Leigh, and to Lucia and the Insomnia Café gang for providing a great writing environment. I also want to acknowledge some teachers who showed me that school isn't all drudgery and number two pencils, most notably Mrs. Fenster and Ms. Brangan for encouraging and guiding my writing; and Mr. Friedman, Mr. Giglio, and Mr. Oliver for showing me that science can be fun. (Um, and if any of my former teachers think they recognize themselvesâ¦I hope they smile about it.)
Last but definitely not least, I want to thank everyone for reading this or, in fact any book (but especially this one)!
IMON
B
LOOM,
THE
GRAVITY KEEPER
Look around you. What do you see? If you're inside, you might see walls, carpeting, furniture. If you're outside, you might see grass, buildings, sky. But the world is a lot more complicated than it seems.
What do I mean? Here's an example: people. Most are just, well, people, but certain others are special. I'm one of those others. That person next to you could be, too, and you'd never know.
What makes us so special? The Books.
I'm not talking about the books you read for fun or for school or, in fact, anything you could buy in a store or find in a library. No, the books I mean are so important, they deserve a capital letter. They are called Books.
You see, everything around youâeverything in the entire universeâhas rules. Laws. And the Books contain the laws. Explain them. Control them. In ways that even I don't fully understand, the Books make sure the universe doesn't fall apart.
Those of us who know about the Books call ourselves the Union. We are the ones who, through the Books, keep the universe running smoothly (aside from occasional glitches like psychic visions or the way pens sometimes vanish when you're not looking).
Everyone else who's not in the Union is an Outsiderâthey don't know about the Books or understand how the universe works. Even Outsider scientists making discoveries, inventing things, and trying to explain why the sky is blue, how birds fly, or why chocolate tastes so good know only a small part of the truth.
The Union has always been somewhere behind the scenes, secretly watching over the Outsiders throughout history as they progress and evolve. Many pose as instructorsâoften professors or teachersâto better keep an eye on the Outsiders.
Nobody, not even those of us in the Union, knows where the Books come from or what they really are. Several of us, and I'm one of them, are convinced that the Books are living, thinking beings that actually had a hand, so to speak, in creating the universe. We believe the Books are to be respected, cared for, and even propped up in front of the television when there's a good show on.
Everyone in the Union agrees that the Books must be kept secret: with all the power they contain, the Books have the potential to be the most dangerous things in existence.
Why am I telling you all this? Because of my jobâI'm a Narrator. I see what others see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel, and put it all in a Chronicle. But like all Narrators, I'm not allowed to interfere. This particular Chronicle is the story of how a magnificent and potentially devastating Book came into the hands of an eleven-year-old boy named Simon Bloom and how he changed the universe forever.