Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins bound by magic and circumstance in a richly imagined ancient Greece, have little in common beyond the violent and mysterious forces that dictate their lives. Rhaskos, an enslaved stable boy “as common as clay,” secretly tends his passions for art and philosophy with the help of Sokrates. Melisto, a spoiled aristocrat “as precious as amber,” risks her life for a season to serve Artemis, goddess of the hunt. By the time Rhaskos and Melisto meet, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses. It takes an army of snarky gods and fearsome goddesses, enslaved people and wealthy citizens, mothers and philosophers, to help shape their story into a gorgeously distilled, symphonic tour de force. Blending verse, prose, and illustrated archaeological “artifacts,” Amber and Clay is an indelible reminder of the power of language to illuminate the over- and underworlds of human history.

Laura Amy Schlitz is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village; the Newbery Honor Book and New York Times bestseller Splendors & Glooms; The Hired Girl, recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award; and several other books for young readers. A teacher as well as a writer, Laura Amy Schlitz lives in Maryland.

Betsy Bird is currently Evanston Public Library’s Collection Development Manager. She has served on the Newbery committee, written for Horn Book, and done other lovely little things that she’s sure would be more interesting to hear about in person. Most recently, she co-wrote Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature with fellow bloggers Peter Sieruta and Julie Danielson. You can follow Betsy on Twitter @FuseEight.

Ages 10-14

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