During St. Polonius-on-the-Fjord’s annual Founder’s Day event, everyone over 12 years, 4 months, 6 days old must eat a slice of bear liver in honor of the North Sea village’s long-ago founders, who survived a cold winter after eating bear liver and falling asleep until spring. Twelve-year-old Jean, participating for the first time, spits her piece out when no one is looking. Hours later, every adult and teenager in town falls into a sleep from which no one can wake them—not a typical Founder’s Day occurrence despite the long-ago miracle. The town charter says children must do their parents’ jobs if the adults are incapacitated, so the kids step up. Jean is convinced the mayor’s son, Magnus, is up to no good when he announces plans to carry out the election to decide whether the town will build a thistleberry processing plant—something sure to change St. Polonius forever. Along with her younger brother, Micah, best friend Katrin (giving cutting edge haircuts at her mom’s salon), 8-year-old Axel (operating his dad’s snowplow), and Isara, who’s keeping everyone fed at his immigrant parents’ Thai restaurant, she investigates. Magnus, in turn, passes restrictive laws and deputizes other kids to keep Jean and her friends in check. The silliness is not without substance in this novel that takes political machinations to a not-unrecognizable extreme, but it’s the story’s over-the-top charm that wins the day. (Ages 7-10)

What would happen if every grown-up in town fell asleep and the kids were left in charge? A great pick for fans of A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff and Greenglass House by Kate Milford or any reader seeking a quirky mystery with a big helping of silliness.

The most important tradition in tiny St. Polonius is the annual Tasting of the Sacred Bear Liver. Each citizen over twelve must eat one bite of liver to prevent the recurrence of the Great Hibernation, when the town founders fell asleep for months.

This year is Jean Huddy's first time to taste the liver. It doesn't go well.

A few hours later, all the adults fall into a sleep from which they cannot be woken, and the kids are left to run things. At first, they have a blast. But then the town bullies take over the mayor's office and the police force, and pretty soon Jean begins to suspect that this "hibernation" was actually engineered by someone in town.

Courage, teamwork, and scientific smarts unlock an unusual mystery in this delightful and funny story about one girl who inspires the kids around her to join together to save their home.

"Definitely will not induce drowsiness. Utterly original." --Adam Rex, author of The True Meaning of Smekday and the Cold Cereal Saga

"Imagine Lord of the Flies as a comedy set in snowy terrain and you have The Great Hibernation: a hilarious, whip-smart page-turner you don't want to miss." --Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, New York Times bestselling author of Book Scavenger and The Unbreakable Code

Selected for the 2018 Spirit of Texas Reading Program for Middle School
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