The Great Hibernation

At St. Polonius-on-the-Fjord’s Founder’s Day, residents older than twelve are expected to eat bear liver in memory of the village’s founders, who survived a winter by sleeping until spring. Jean, newly eligible to take part, secretly avoids swallowing hers. Soon afterward, the town’s adults and teenagers fall into an unbreakable sleep. Under the town charter, the children take over their parents’ work. Jean becomes suspicious when Magnus, the mayor’s son, pushes ahead with an election that could bring a thistleberry plant to town.