X-Men meets Pokémon in this endlessly inventive new middle-grade series from New York Times bestselling author Graci Kim—if Professor X was a Korean king, and magic literally came from our dreams!

THE SLINGER SERIES
by Graci Kim
Disney Hyperion, Spring 2025
(via Writers House)

Book 1: DREAMSLINGER

Book 2: ROYALSLINGER

Fourteen-year-old Aria Loveridge is a carrier of the dreamslinger gene—a rare genetic mutation that causes fire, wind, poison, or ice to blast from her hands after a nightmare. Like all dreamslingers, Aria is a total outcast—hated and feared by the public. But thanks to her dad, a celebrated Texan professor of dreamslinger welfare, things are about to change. His groundbreaking work to build Dreamslinger Homes in every US state is going to give teenagers like Aria a safe haven, and Aria couldn’t be prouder.

But when Aria accidentally lights the camera crew on fire during her dad’s live-streamed national announcement, her dad’s career goes up in flame too. And in an attempt to save his life’s work, Aria strikes a deal with the government—she’ll enter the mysterious and dangerous Annual Slinger Trials in the Royal Kingdom of Hanguk as a spy, in exchange for her dad’s project getting the green light.

Aria knows the risks. After all, the hermit kingdom’s been closed to the world for the past ten years—ever since their royally-trained slingers unleashed a series of fires, hurricanes, ice storms, and poisonous plagues that took thousands of lives. And this is the first time they’ve opened their controversial training contest to the world. But apart from the cut-throat competition, nothing in the Trials is as Aria expected. Flying palanquins? Trees that grow snacks? Dream creatures that give you real-life superpowers? And . . . new friends?

Soon, Aria begins to question everything she thought she knew about being a dreamslinger. And when her spying leads her to discover shocking truths about her own family and history, Aria has to decide where her loyalties lie—to her dad, to the kingdom, or perhaps even, to herself.

Graci Kim is the award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of the Rick Riordan Presents series The Last Fallen Star, a Korean mythology-inspired middle-grade that was in TIME Magazine for Kids, praised as a “sparkling yarn” by Entertainment Weekly, and has been optioned for a television series by the Disney Channel. It was named a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Children’s Book, an Amazon Best Book, an Indigo Best Book, a Barnes & Noble Young Reader Pick, and a Whitcoulls Kids Top 50. In 2022, Graci was awarded the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. Before she became an author, Graci was a New Zealand diplomat and a cooking show host.