Try the Treasure Hunt for Clare B. Dunkle's Hollow Kingdom Trilogy

When the sorcerer’s control breaks, Marak shouts this phrase again. On what page does he do this?

In Book III, Marak’s wife and son come to say good-bye to him. This means that his treasure is the last thing he sees before he dies. On what page does he close his eyes for the last time?

On that same page, one of the most treasured enchantments of the goblins turns back into a golden sword. On what page do we first see Charm turn from golden sword into snake?

Gold doesn’t matter to elves. They don’t usually like metal. But Sable’s impoverished band has one item that the women consider treasure: a fragment of looking glass. On what page do we see Sable looking into this triangle of glass for the first time?

Thorn throws it away after this incident, and the elves don’t have another mirror until Thorn brings home a new one. He uses it to insult Sable by showing her how she looks. On what page does he do this?

Sable is horrified by the sight of herself in the mirror. Nir, the handsome elf lord, wouldn’t be shocked by his face in the mirror. But he’s learned from his parents’ unhappy marriage that looks don’t count for much, so he tells the new King’s Wife he’d rather see her face than his. On what page does he do this?

Miranda’s treasure has been a promise from Marak, her magical guardian. When she finds out that she won’t receive it, she accidentally destroys an enchanted gift that Marak gave her in childhood. On what page does she watch the blue butterfly flutter to the ground?

Belinda, the last elf King’s wife, also had a treasure given to her by a loved one: the locket with her lover’s picture in it. Even though she had amnesia, she knew that the man in the picture was her true treasure, and when she realized he was gone forever, she killed herself. On what page of Book II do we learn of her last sight of him?

At Nir’s magical touch, Kate realizes that she, too, has lost the person who was her treasure. Even though she saw Marak die, she didn’t fully comprehend his loss, but when Nir awakens her elf nature in the truce circle, she understands at last that she will never see Marak again. Her reaction almost causes a diplomatic crisis. On what page does this take place?

The greatest treasures within the trilogy are not mirrors or jewelry, or even beloved people. They are books: the chronicles that record for later generations the triumphs and struggles of the past. Marak studies two sets of these chronicles in Book I, and he and Kate read each other stories from them. In Book II, Sable and Ruby bring back to the kingdom two priceless books that tell about lost chapters in their races’ history. In Book III, Marak Catspaw sends his rival Nir a special kind of treasure: an empty book in which to record the elves’ new Kings’ Chronicles. On what page does he do this?

Inspired by her friendship with other King’s Wives, Kate decides to write a chronicle: for the first time in the history of the races, a King’s Wife will tell her own story. The chronicle that Kate writes is, of course, The Hollow Kingdom. On what page does she send Miranda news of this?

Treasure means different things to different people. Right before Marak passes out under the sorcerer’s control, he names what matters most to him: “My wife and son.” On what page does he do this?


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This treasure hunt is based on
the following three books:

THE HOLLOW KINGDOM

CLOSE KIN

IN THE COILS OF THE SNAKE

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The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy
By Clare B. Dunkle. New York: Henry Holt, 2003-5. 3 v.

This is a treasure hunt in 12 questions to celebrate the release of The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy in paperback. The prize is the chance to read two new Hollow Kingdom short stories hidden on my website.

To participate, you will need all three copies of the trilogy books in front of you, but they can be either hardcover or paperback because the page numbers are the same. Go down to the first clue, below these paragraphs. Find the page in the trilogy where that episode takes place.

Type the page number into the box and cluck Submit. If you're wrong, a box will pop up and warn you that you have the wrong answer. If you’re right, the next clue will appear below your completed clue. (You will need to look for it because it will be several spaces below your box.) Proceed from clue to clue down the page until you solve the last clue of the Treasure Hunt. Then a page containing the two new hidden stories will launch.

Dear Danish readers: this treasure hunt only works with the English books. If you would like to read the stories hidden here, send me an email at clare at claredunkle.com and tell me the Danish name for Charm (the golden snake) and the Danish name for Catspaw, Kate and Marak’s son. I’ll send you back a link to the hidden stories.

This page requires the technology of web browsers that are less than ten years old. If it absolutely will not display properly for you, here is a page with the same treasure hunt but without all the pretty disappearing tricks.

Copyright 2007 by Clare B. Dunkle. Permission is given to print this page for educational or private use, provided the author is acknowledged on the printed copy. It is forbidden to copy, distribute, or use this text in electronic form. This text may not be emailed or used on another webpage.