Misty Heights Authors Marta Magnadóttir and Birgitta Hassell have always loved
(Skuggadalir), an apt name, as it is shaded most of the day, all year round.
books with mystery, horror and fantasy elements. Their academic
Near the top of the hill are The Ruins (Rústirnar), built decades ago as a
research revealed a limited selection for this kind of book for young readers in Iceland. Brainstorming about what they would have read themselves at that age led them to the small town of Misty Heights (Rökkurhæðir), the fictional home of their characters.
luxury development with apartments and the foundations for sprawling mansions with a spectacular view of the bay. Now they lie in ruins that nature does its best to erase from sight and memory. The children of Misty Heights are forbidden to explore there, but they have all made a secret visit at one time or other. Something momentous, strange and terrifying happened there. Many people do not dare mention it, others allude to terrorism or to the supernatural. Some try to explain it away with comfortable, logical explanations. But the kids know better.
Misty Heights – the suburb the town of Sunny Vale (Sunnuvík).
Misty Heights
Once it was just a small village nestled under the hill. Today, in this old part
– the series
of Misty Heights, winding streets are fringed with crooked houses, mostly
Seven of the books can stand alone, as each tells a story that begins and ends
hidden behind tall sheltering trees.
within the book. Yet all the stories are interconnected, located in the same
The new part of town is very different. The trees are too small to shade the
small neighborhood – Misty Heights. Except for a few youngsters from
houses from the sun and the hill is too distant to offer shelter.
Sunny Vale, the main characters all attend the local high school, their
At the foot of the hill lies an apartment complex called Shadow Vale
siblings attend the local kindergarten, schools or college, and their parents
Misty Heights is a small, picture-perfect neighborhood on the outskirts of
Misty Heights 3:
work in town–at the kindergarten, coffee shop, post office.
Christopher
The main character of one book may appear as a minor character in other books.
It is springtime in Misty Heights and Christopher,
As the stories all take place during the same time frame, an event in one book
who is just finishing grade 9, can finally take his
may appear in another book from the another character’s perspective.
parkour-practice outside with his teammates.
Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but the big picture emerges when it is
Looking for a suitable place to train, he finds the
read as a piece of a larger puzzle.
ideal spot–the forbidden Ruins!
After book seven is published, the series will conclude with a trilogy that ties
While exploring, Christopher finds the perfect
all the loose ends and reveals what is actually happening in Misty Heights.
birthday present for his little sister, but he has no idea how it will change his life and the lives of everyone he loves. Rights sold: Germany (Arena Verlag).
Misty Heights 1:
The Ruins
Rights sold: Germany (Arena Verlag).
Misty Heights 4:
Fourteen-year old Anna, a grade 8 pupil at
Unrest
Misty Heights High School, is on the student
Misty Heights is aflame with discord and
council, plays handball, takes dance classes
violence. Matthias recently moved to Misty
and goes skiing whenever she can. What
Heights. He is having a hard time adjusting to
suffers is her homework and her grades.
his new school and feels that the other
When a mysterious girl offers to help her out,
students and teachers are overly nice, bending
doing her homework and sometimes going to
over backwards to welcome him. But at the
class for her, Anna agrees to her part of the
same time, he experiences an escalation of
bargain, to guess the “girl’s” name before spring
fights, violence and unexplained accidents.
exams. She thinks she knows the name and what
Inga is used to life in Misty Heights but when
is going on, as it is all told in an ancient folk tale. Of
she meets Matthias, she starts to see her town through his eyes. Together
course things do not go as planned and she finds herself in way over her head.
they make connections between the incidents and a bigger picture emerges that is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
Misty Heights 2:
Dusky Lane
Misty Heights 5:
Vigdís, a grade 9 pupil in Misty Heights High, is
The Gift
an only child, living alone with her mother since
Thor, in grade 9, lives in a small apartment with
her father passed away some years before.
his mother. He is not very happy since his
Grandma’s house in Dusky Lane has always
parents’
been her second home, but suddenly she feels
approaches, he hopes they will make amends by
she is not entirely welcome there, as if
giving him the presents he deserves, but he is
something in the house wants her gone.
sorely disappointed.
Haunted by strange dreams and evil eyes, for
Soon, he realizes there is a lot more to the gift
the first time in her life she is afraid. A secret
from his mother than he first thought–and
from her childhood is revealed. . But is it safe for
suddenly, he is knee-deep in something that is
her to know?
Rights sold: Germany (Arena Verlag).
recent
divorce.
totally beyond his control.
As
Christmas
Misty Heights 6:
The Watchman Peter has just moved into one of Misty Heights’s oldest houses, where horrible events took place shortly before. Although the house itself welcomes the family, he notices strange goings-on in his backyard. At the old church he meets a girl who is invisible to everyone else.
The End
what might be at the root of all the strange
The End, part 1: The Guardians (Útverðirnir)
happenings there.
The first in the trilogy that concludes the Misty Heights
He uncovers more of Misty Heights’s history and
Saga. Hannah moves to Misty Heights with her
Misty Heights 7:
The Event Since Margaret’s horrific disappearance at the end
–t ob er ele ase d
of book 1, she has reappeared in strange situations in other books.
in Oc tob er 20 15
reporter mom. While researching the town’s history she discovers a secret sect that meets regularly in the old Church. The events of books one to seven are cast in a new light and the big picture is emerging.
raised in previous books will be andsered.
The End, part 2: Blizzard (Gjörningaveður)
Margaret‘s actions will shed a lnew ight on what
Most of the high school students, along with some kids
happened during the Event.
from Sunny Vale and a few teachers, are on a ski trip. A
In this last book of the seven, some questions
sudden storm leaves them trapped on the hill. Unwittingly, the kids tamper with things best left undisturbed. What has been slowly brewing in Misty Heights suddenly escalates into an all-out war. „Þú ert eina von Helvítis. Þú, Filip Engils,“ Fjandinn lyfti fingri og benti á hjarta Filips, sem sló ótt og títt, „átt að verða eftirmaður minn.“
The End, part 3: The End (Endalokin)
„Ég?“ Filip leit niður eftir sjálfum sér, eins og til að fullvissa sig um að það væri hann sem Fjandinn benti á. „Viltu að ég verði …“ „Já, drengur minn! Lúsífer II! Hljómar það ekki vel?“ ilip er ósköp venjulegur strákur. Reyndar er hann ekkert svo venjulegur því að hann er alltaf kominn aðeins á undan í skólabókunum sínum, hann vaskar alltaf upp og fer út með ruslið þegar mamma hans biður hann um það og hann lýgur aldrei. Aldrei. Ekki einu sinni til að hylma yfir með eina vini sínum. En þessa vikuna er það hann sem lendir í klónum á versta hrotta skólans. Í átökunum lendir Filip undir bíl og deyr. Og hvar lendir hann, þetta gæðablóð? Jú, hann lendir nefnilega í Helvíti, hjá þeim svarta sjálfum.
This book recounts the final battle between the Guardians, the kids and the evil forces that are trying to
„LESTU BÓKINA!!!“
- HANS HÁTIGN LÚSÍFER, FURSTI MYRKURSINS
„Ég mæli með þessari bók. En þú skalt bara lesa hana ef þú þorir, hún er svolítið svakaleg á köflum.“
gain control in our world. As if battling evil isn’t
- FILIP ENGILS, 7.A
„Þetta er gómsæt bók.“ - RAVÍNA, MATRÁÐSKONA HELVÍTIS
„Mér er drullusama hvort þú lest þessa bók. Aumar mannverur koma mér ekki við. Kaflarnir um mig eru samt ágætir.“
enough, the kids don’t know who to trust. Some people
- AZIEL STOFELES, DJÖFULL
„Ég ráðlegg þér eindregið að lesa þessa bók. Það myndi gleðja herrann.“
they thought were on their side have other plans
- LÚSÍFAX, KÖTTUR LÚSÍFERS
entirely.
Rights sold Rökkurhæðir 1: Rústirnar: Germany (Arena Verlag) Rökkurhæðir 2: Óttulundur: Germany (Arena Verlag) Rökkurhæðir 3: Kristófer: Germany (Arena Verlag)
In the first book, Camille Windmill and the blown ups (Kamilla Vindmylla og bullorða fólkið), the kids face evil scientist Elias Emil, whose greatest wish is to make life as much fun as when he was young. His solution is to make everyone behave like children, with funny and sometimes sad results. In book two, Camille Windmill and the boredom from the mountain, (Kamilla Vindmylla og leiðinn úr Esjunni ) Camille and her friends face a new threat. Driven by his ambition to be accepted into the Bad Guys Inc., Julius Janus steals Elias Emil’s mind converter. Instead of making people behave as kids, he uses it to leech all the fun out of the world.
Camille Windmill (Kamilla Vindmylla) is an Icelandic series by Hilmar Örn Óskarsson, illustrated by Erla María Árnadóttir, about an 11-year old girl and her friends who repeatedly save the world from terrible threats. The books are hilarious and imaginative. Ingenious wordplay is a big part of the humor, as the author explores “I laughed so hard that I sprayed coffee all over page 47.” KENNETH BØGH ANDERSEN
- Brynhildur, Fréttablaðið
language and how meaning often
Book three, Camille Windmill and the imposters (Kamilla Vindmylla og svikamillurnar) was released in october 2014. Camille faces an old foe who has brought reinforcements to make things extremely unpleasant for our heroine and her friends.
depends on context, not the words themselves.
Blizzard or a breeze? (Vinur minn vindurinn) Grandma sometimes talks Þessi fallega saga Evu Einarsdóttur er listilega myndskreytt af Lóu Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttur. Í sameiningu búa þær til fallegan töfraheim sem er fullkomin umgjörð utan um notalega samverustund fyrir háttinn.
„Þetta er æðisleg bók. Lestu hana. Þú veist þig langar til þess. Láttu það eftir þér…“
Saga in the night
Eva Einarsdóttir og Lóa H. Hjálmtýsdóttir
KENNETH BØGH ANDERSEN
Eva Einarsdóttir og Lóa H. Hjálmtýsdóttir
„Myrkrið og nóttin eru full af ævintýrum!“
about „window weather“, grandpa never misses the weather news and kitty loves to chase the leaves when the wind blows. A beautiful and sweet book
- SATÍNA, FREISTARI
Bókaútgáfa
3 mm
(Saga um nótt) by Eva Einarsdóttir and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir (illustrator). Little Saga is afraid of the dark but Mom reassures her, weaving a magical
where the reader follows a curious kitty in the ever changing Icelandic weather.
world of stories that lulls Saga to sleep and carries her into the land of dreams.
Bergrún Íris is an illustrator and songwriter who has has worked on many
The book won the IBBY’s Spring Winds Award 2014 for exceptional interplay
books, both for children and adults. My friend, the wind is her first book as
between pictures and words.
both author and illustrator.
Bókabeitan publishes titles from leading publishers world wide such as
Harper Collins · Little and Brown · St. Martin's Press · Gyldendal · Abrams Books
Bókabeitan
is a progressive new
In 2013, Bókabeitan created two new labels
publisher with a mission to promote reading for
Töfraland, which focuses on books for
children, teens and young adults (ages 2-18) by publishing quality books for this audience.
children aged six and younger, and Björt which targets YA readers.
Founding partners Marta Hlín Magnadóttir and Birgitta Elín Hassell believe that “the key to engaging children and teens in reading is to offer them a wide choice of books. This led to the founding of Bókabeitan in 2011.”
Marta Hlín Magnadóttir and Birgitta Elín Hassell
Bókabeitan ehf. · Dugguvogi 17-19, · 104 Reykjavík · Iceland. · Tel: +354 5886609 · E: bokabeitan@bokabeitan.is · www.bokabeitan.is