Thank you to my amazing editor, Rachel Leyshon, for killing off the warts in my manuscript and working your magic on it. You helped me write the book I always wished I’d written.
I am deeply appreciative of the efforts of everyone at Chicken House—Jazz Bartlett, Laura Myers, Elinor Bagenal, Rachel Hickman, Esther Waller, Sarah Wilson, and especially Kesia Lupo for your keen editorial eyes.
Thank you to the wonderful freelancers who worked on my book: to Claire Skuse for her work in the early stages, to Sarah Levison for the structural edit, to Miranda Baker for a brilliant copyedit, to Helen Jennings for the proofread, to Steve Wells for my cool cover, and to Laura Smythe for publicity.
Thanks to Ai Kiminomori for helping with the Japanese (at the last minute!).
The children’s literature community in Ireland is an amazing group of people. There are too many of you to mention, but you know who you are. Thank you for doing what you do.
Cheers to all my students, friends, and family for taking an interest in what I do.
If what they say is true—behind every great man is a great woman—then I must be truly great, because I have three! To Emma and Lara, thank you for NEVER disturbing me while I was on the computer, for never distracting me with puppet shows, dance routines, or teddy bear birthday parties! And, most important, to Carol—thank you for your constant support and encouragement and for making the time for me to write. I couldn’t have done this without you.
KIERAN FANNING is an elementary school teacher who enjoys helping his pupils write, illustrate, and publish their own books. He has published a series of interactive puzzle books for children, as well as school textbooks. The Black Lotus is his debut novel. He has a master’s in children’s literature and lives with his wife and two children in Ireland. You can visit him online at www.kieranfanning.com and follow him on Twitter at @KieranJFanning.
Copyright © 2016 by Kieran Fanning
All rights reserved. Published by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, CHICKEN HOUSE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 as The Black Lotus by Chicken House, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fanning, Kieran, author.
Title: The Black Lotus : shadow of the ninja / Kieran Fanning.
Description: First American edition. | New York : Chicken House/Scholastic Inc., 2016. | Originally published: Frome, Somerset : Chicken House, 2015. | Summary: Ghost can become invisible, Cormac can run up walls, and Kate can talk to animals—all talents that make them perfect recruits for the Black Lotus, a training school for the ninjas who are sworn to protect the world from the evil Samurai-run Empire and its plot to find the Moon Sword, a dangerous, powerful weapon in sixteenth-century Japan.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016005107| ISBN 9780545940283 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 0545940281 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Ninja—Juvenile fiction. | Samurai—Juvenile fiction. | Time travel— Juvenile fiction. | Swords—Juvenile fiction. | Adventure stories. | Japan—History— 16th century—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Ninja—Fiction. | Samurai—Fiction. | Time travel—Fiction. | Swords—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Japan—History—16th century—Fiction. | GSAFD: Adventure fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.F355 Bl 2016 | DDC 823.92—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016005107
First edition, October 2016
Jacket art © 2016 by Matthew Griffin
Jacket design by Carol Ly
e-ISBN 978-0-545-94275-1
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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