Ophelia’s Uncommonly Odd Odyssey

A Novel for Middle Grade Readers
By Alan Pietsch

SYNOPSIS

Ophelia’s Uncommonly Odd Odyssey is a story about a young girl who is a bookworm.  To say she is an avid reader is an understatement – she consumes books like other children consume candy bars (she does that, too).  She reads constantly – at home, in the car, at school during class, at recess, at night, on weekends – even on beautiful sunny, summer days.  She reads so much that everyone gives her a hard time about it – her parents, her brother, her teacher, the other students. 

Ophelia just doesn’t quite fit in.  She doesn’t really have any close friends.  She spends most of her time by herself.  She is perfectly content curled up in her room or in her backyard with a book and some of mother’s famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  She can literally read for hours without moving. 

She doesn’t play any sports – she’s not athletic at all.  She’s rather clumsy and self-conscious about it.  She doesn’t like doing the things that other girls her age like to do – play house, do crafts, go to movies, gossip.  She’s bored with most of these things.

To make matters worse, she is plagued with a brother, Ben, who is the exact opposite of her – handsome, social, outgoing, popular and athletic.  He is absolutely insufferable to her – she dreads anytime she has to be in the same room as him.

This is her life until one day, after her teacher, Mr. Peabody, has taken her book away again after reading during a lesson, she goes out at recess and curls up under a huge tree on the schoolgrounds and begins reading her latest fantasy novel.  As she’s reading, she suddenly discovers that she’s actually in the story!  Somehow through some sort of metaphysical osmosis, she has been sucked into the fantasy world of her novel.  This is all grand and wonderful until she realizes that she needs to get back to school because lunch is almost over.

However, there is one problem – no one in this story has any idea what “school” is or how to get back there.  They tell her that her only chance is to go to the Great Gates of Fate and go through and see if it leads her back to where she came from.  So, off she goes and embarks on a very unexpected journey that leads her to the most surprising places and experiences – indeed, an odyssey!

Come join Ophelia as she tries to return to her world while taking a wild ride through Story Land. 

Will she get back?  You’ll see………..