Jake Halpurn (Author of Dormia) Visits My School

Last week, Jake Halpurn, the author of the new hit book Dormia visited my school. He worked in tandem with Peter Kujawinski to write this book. The story is about a boy named Alfonso Perplexon. Alfonso is a boy who walks in his sleep and goes on amazing adventures. Mr. Halpurn was very well spoken (as many authors are) and was very articulate. He told us stories about the book, as well as some of his life experiences. These two types of stories go hand in hand. Many of the adventures in this book are based on real life experiences.

The first story he told us was about a trip he took to Northern Poland. He and his wife were walking through the woods one day when his wife (who was just his girlfriend at the time) told him about a game that she and her siblings used to play as kids. One person would walk in front, and the other would walk behind. The objective of the game is for the person in the back to scare the person in the front. The only rule is: the person in the front of the pack is not allowed to look back. If they look back, they lose the game. So Mr. Halpurn is walking in front of his girlfriend. The game starts with the her being completely silent for more than 15 minutes. She is so quiet you can't even hear her walking. After that, she begins to make a bit more noise. She walks in time with Mr. Halpurn's footsteps. It is difficult for him to hear her, because of the interference of his won footsteps. After a while of this, he begins to hear a sort of hypervantalated breathing. He is just so curious, he has to look. He loses the game.

This story was adapted into a story in the book. Alfonso has to travel through the forest where the Strazsydlo live. The direct translation of Strazsydlo into English from Polish is "The things that keep you up at night." So Alfonso is trying to escape the forest. There are two rules to crossing the forest. One is that you must cross only in daylight. If the sun goes down during the time, the Strazsydlo will get you. The second rule is that you can't look back.. If you do, they will get you. You can see how this story works.

The second story Mr. Halpurn told us was from his 4 week stay in Hawaii. He lived on an island in a sea of lava. One day, while he was there, he and his girlfriend (who is now his wife) decide to go exploring. They take three flashlights with them, considering it is nightime. After walking about an hour, his wife plants a flashlight in the ground and turns it on. This sends a beam up so they can find their way back to the house. About another hour later, when she can just barely see the first light, she posts a second one. About an hour later, she posts a third. They walk for about twenty minutes after that and find a bubble, twice as tall as Mr. Halpurn, made of lava. They move a distance away, and Jake throws a sharp rock at the bubble. The bubble pops and the lava flows everywhere. They drop a penny in it, and see that it melts immediately. When they are done with the lava, they walk back to the third flashlight. They see that is is almost dead. They turn it off to conserve the battery. When they look up to see the second light, they see that it is flickering. The try the light they have, but it won't turn on. They sprint toward the light, hoping to get to it before it dies. But then it goes out. They wait for about fifteen minutes, in complete and total darkness, before they see a faint flicker. They sprint to it as fast as they can, and just make it before it goes out. The last flashlight worked fine.

Jake Halpurn told us that he plans to use this story in the sequel to Dormia. Alfonso will be walking across islands of lava, guided only by lighthouses. On the way back, he encounters the same problem as Jake and his girlfriend did.

I had a lot of fun listening to this man tell stories, and I plan to read his book as soon as I finish the one I am currently on. I will definitely review it once I am finished with it,