Winter Door (37 page)

Excerpt copyright © 2005 by Isobelle Carmody Published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York

Little Fur led Brownie deeper into the wilderness, which was larger than it looked from the outside, for the land within it was folded like a blanket. They climbed the mounded hill at its center and Brownie saw that there was a deep hollow inside it. At its base grew a dense grove of trees.

It was not until he had followed Little Fur down a rabbit track winding into the hidden hollow that he discovered there were only seven great trees growing there. The trunk of a single one was bigger than the stable where he slept with his brothers, and the enormous branches sprouting from the trunks were themselves as big as trees. Each branch forked into smaller and smaller branches, all of them heavy with leaves. Each tree wove and braided its branches together with those of neighboring trees to form a dense canopy. Standing under it, nothing could be seen of the sky, and the light was as green and heavy as syrup, making Brownie feel that he wanted to stand still and put down roots, too.

He rested his muzzle against the velvety green moss pelt of one of the trees, as Little Fur urged, and was stunned to hear the tree whispering, though he could not make out its words.

“You have to make your mind quiet and sort of let it float into the tree,” Little Fur explained, but Brownie was too impatient with excitement to try. He said it was enough for him to know that such trees existed.

OTHER YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY

NIGHT GATE,
Isobelle Carmody

THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE,
Joan Aiken

THE BLACK CAULDRON,
Lloyd Alexander

SKELLIG,
David Almond

THE SECRET GARDEN,
Frances Hodgson Burnett

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY,
Sheila Burnford

THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE,
George Selden

THE DOOR IN THE WALL,
Marguerite de Angeli

SMART DOG,
Vivian Vande Velde

Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books a division of Random House, Inc., New York

Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Isobelle Carmody

Cover art © 2006 by Greg Spalenka

Originally published in Australia as
The Winter Door
by Penguin Books Australia, Camberwell, in 2003.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address Penguin Books, Australia.

Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Visit us on the Web!
www.randomhouse.com/kids

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers

eISBN: 978-0-375-89090-1

v1.0