The Eye of the Stone

When Jackson Cooper is suddenly sucked into another world, he must find the courage to fight an evil monster before it destroys everything in its path!

Even on his birthday, nothing is going right for Jackson Cooper. His friends think he’s a wimp for not biking down a steep hill, and his father, who’s always in a bad mood since he lost his job, is acting weirder than normal. To top it off, Jackson has to babysit his little sister. The year is off to a rough start. To take his mind off his bad luck, Jackson decides to go on a walk through the woods but gets caught in a storm. While taking shelter in a nearby cave, Jackson pulls a peculiar stone from the wall—and is suddenly transported to another world!
 
The inhabitants of this strange new place called Timmra believe that Jackson is the chosen one, a promised gift from their god to protect them from a beast bent on ending the universe. But can Jackson overcome his fears in time to save the Timmrans, or is he truly the wimp his friends think he is?

“The story provides plenty of excitement for adventure fans. The parallels between Jackson’s troubles at home and in the alternate world are well drawn in this fast-paced fantasy, which will probably appeal particularly to boys.” —Booklist

As a kid, Tom Birdseye was decidedly uninterested in writing—or any academic aspect of school, for that matter—never imagining that he would eventually become a published author. And yet, nineteen titles later—novels, picture books, and nonfiction—that is exactly what has happened. His work has been recognized for its excellence by the International Reading Association, Children’s Book Council, National Council of Social Studies, Society of School Librarians International, Oregon Library Association, and Oregon Reading Association, among others. Combined, his books have either won or been finalists for state children’s choice awards forty-three times. Life, it seems, is full of who’d-a-thought-its. He lives and writes in Corvallis, Oregon, but launches mountaineering expeditions to his beloved Cascades on a regular basis.