Circles in the Stream, Chapter 3: I Got a Rock

I don’t have a lot to say about Chapter 3.  Other than a few small changes, both versions of this chapter are essentially the same.  Heck, I can do a pretty quick summary.  Let’s see:

• Emily runs into woods.
• Emily stumbles into Ravenswood Preserve.
• Emily is chased by a ghostly mist.
• Emily finds dogs.
• Emily finds Rocking Stone, and the secret glade it hides.
• Emily finds an odd rock in the lake in the glade.
• Emily spies odd deer, sparkly dandelions, and a purple bear in the glade.
• A giant winged monster lands in the glade; Emily and dogs are protected by ghostly mist.
• Monster flies away, mist lifts to reveal talking wolf that says the coast is clear.
• Emily runs home.

There’s only three major changes.  One: the Rocking Stone has different properties in both editions.  In the original, it hangs over the glade; in the revised edition, it has faint markings all over it.  Hmm, I bet those markings are important — why else would they be mentioned?

Also, how does the Rocking Stone hang over the glade?  The books only describe it as a towering boulder.  Is it like Balanced Rock in Utah?

Two: in the revised edition, Emily talks to the dogs about naming the sparkletastic dandelions:

“I might have just discovered a whole new species.  Genus: Emily,” she laughed.

“Yipp!” [says a dog]

“Okay, okay.  Genus: Pumpkin.”

But … if they’re remotely related to dandelions, wouldn’t they be in the genus Taraxacum?  (Actually, the series later provides a fake-Latin scientific name for the flowers, and Taraxacum is definitely not part of it.)

Third: Emily spots different kinds of deer in both editions.  In the original, they’re miniature deer.  In the new edition, they’re green-striped deer with purple eyes — jeeran, a type of deer not native to Earth.  Emily doesn’t know that yet, of course.

EDIT: Changes in the e-book edition

• The lake in the secret glade is now a pond.

Next time: Emily’s rock may be radioactive, and a quick lesson in Native American languages.