The Soluna’s Way (2020)
(from the back cover)
Ayla Stone is an inquisitive 12-year-old who feels a little lost. Her grandpa just died, her mom is a mess, and her brother thinks he knows everything . . .
Ayla’s quest to lie low and avoid drama is halted when she unknowingly slips into an extraordinary, yet strangely familiar new world.
This world started much like Earth but developed into a place without conflict or fear. Until now, when weird weather emerges, and the people start to clash. Ayla is summoned by its leaders to help them restore peace.
As threats of disaster loom, Ayla knows the leaders must compromise but she can’t find the courage to confront them. While Ayla struggles to find her voice, a wise mystic called a Soluna speaks up and everything changes.
The Soluna’s Way is a Nautilus Award Winner and more . . .
A Profound Honor
The Soluna’s Way was awarded a Silver for Middle Grade Fiction in The Nautilus Book Awards.
The Nautilus Book Awards mission is to celebrate and honor books that support conscious living & green values, wellness, social change & social justice, and spiritual growth.
It is a profound honor to be on the same awards list as books written by influential authors like Barbara Kingsolver, Naomi Wolf, Louise Erdrich, Julia Cameron, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, and more. (Wow!)
And, to be recognized for the achieving the very goal of publishing The Soluna’s Way, which was to contribute a positive, hopeful, and heartfelt story to the collective.
Indie Reader Approved!
The Soluna’s Way is Indie Reader Approved!
“THE SOLUNA’S WAY is an adventurous middle grade novel that wastes no time in introducing Ayla to the intriguing utopian world of Eema. Ayla is a great heroine—sympathetic, funny, deeply compassionate, and willing to speak up even if it’s not easy, but especially when it’s the right thing to do. Her journey on Eema is helped by characters like Mina, her bubbly new friend who teaches her the ways of their society, and Noor, a Mother who leads their community. Noor’s maternal presence is warm and inviting, and there’s fantastic dimension to her character as the plot unfolds to show that the adults sometimes don’t have all of the answers, or even the right ones. The plot leaves room for all kinds of character nuance, from antagonists who are more than their initial first impressions, to a society that champions gender equality. Gender-nonconforming or nonbinary characters are accepted as the norm.” —Jessica Thomas for IndieReader
The Soluna’s Way Coloring Page
In the process of preparing The Soluna’s Way for publication, Anna decided to create a coloring page. It was pure joy to work with cover artist, Carole Chevalier, to bring this sweet scene to life, and to share it with readers.
You can download the coloring page, by clicking HERE.
Reviews for The Soluna’s Way
The Soluna’s Way draws you in with its diverse and kindhearted characters. This captivating middle grade fantasy celebrates compassion, curiosity, and the power we carry within. Whether you are big or small, short or tall, you are perfectly equipped to make a difference in the world. Do your thing!
What Inspired This Story?
From the Author, Anna Oginsky
When I was first inspired to write The Soluna’s Way, I was thinking a lot about the motivation behind the contributions individuals make to society. There are multitudes. I felt a shift occurring for me personally though, and while I knew my contribution involved my writing, I wasn’t exactly sure how to best accomplish that.
There were a lot of unsettling events occurring in the world at once and perhaps because of social media and the internet, it felt like a non-stop barrage of bad news. Should I chime in? Offer my opinion? My perspective?
And as a consumer of all this news, I started thinking about the energy behind the art or offering an individual shares. I wondered how the end result would shift if the energy behind the art came from a place of anger? A place of fear? Or, a place of love?
At the same time this was all happening, my family was part of forming a non-profit whose mission it is to restore a lighthouse that was automated by the U.S. Coast Guard. I enjoyed thinking about the people who oversee lighthouse operations—the light keepers. I was inspired by the thought that all over the world, in numerous capacities, there are people and places that serve as both literal and figurative lighthouses. People who act as beacons of light, and who offer safe harbor in a storm.
The Soluna’s Way is in part inspired by this time of reflection and the question of what it means to be light. Noor calls Ayla a light bearer near the end of the story and while that can mean different things to different people, in the story it means that Ayla is being called to make the world a better place. Even at the end of the story, it seems, as it seems for so many young people today, her journey is just beginning.
