Award-winning novelist Nancy Farmer writes "large-scale stories in which children battle inner demons and ferocious villains in a series of perilous adventures through hostile but richly conceived landscapes," according to Roger Sutton, writing in t he New York Times Book Review. The author of juvenile novels and picture books that demonstrate her talent as a storyteller as well as her interest in African culture, Farmer spent seventeen years in central Africa, years that p roved to be critical to her writing career. "The character, viewpoint and zany sense of humor of the people I met there have had a major effect on my writing," she once commented, Indeed, many critics have applauded her work for her characterizations, hum or, and depiction of locale. A sure measure of her success is that The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm and A Girl Named Disaster were both named Newbery Honor...