books for loan books to own By Lisa Thalhimer

Sailing on a Flood of Questions

Teen is Hero in Futuristic Novel

Do you remember the first book to change your young life? Perhaps it was “A Wrinkle in Time,” “The Giver” or “Bridge to Terabithia.” For many in this generation of young teens, it will be Julie Bertagna’s compelling novel, Exodus. (Walker, 2008)
Bertagna pulls her readers into this expertly woven tale about life on Earth in the year 2099. The melting of the polar ice caps and ensuing floods reveals a world where people struggle to survive on ever-decreasing land.
Our protagonist, Mara Bell, is born on Wing, one of the few islands left in the world. But it is clear that Wing isn’t safe from rising waters. Mara and other islanders leave their home in search of New World cities rumored to have been built high above the oceans.
The journey is grueling. Mara loses her parents and brother. The nightmare continues when they reach the end of their voyage. Yes, there is an immense city in the sky, with vast metallic connectors. But a massive, impenetrable wall runs around the airborne structure.
There is no land or harbour, only a blurred mass that heaves and bobs around the city. A large, dull-coloured, live thing. The vile, rotting stench of an open drain hits as the clustering thing sharpens into focus. Mara gasps as she sees it’s a heaving mass of humanity. A chaos of refugee boats crams the sea around the city and clings like a fungus to the huge wall that seems to bar all entry to the refugees.
They join the floating refugee camp. Disease, starvation, dehydration and frequent raids by sea-police for able-bodied slaves harden Mara’s resolve. She will save her friends. She will not allow her family’s death to be in vain.
Just as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series gave us a new vocabulary of magical words, the complex plot in “Exodus” drenches us in a combination of futuristic jargon and old world simplicity. Mara’s quest takes her to different worlds; she joins the Treenesters who literally nest in trees and live off of what little land is left. From there, she sneaks into New Mungo, the city on high. Their technology includes cyber experiences unequal to anything Mara has ever felt or imagined, and none of it real.
Mara is haunted by questions. How can people live well in New Mungo without allowing anyone else in? What kinds of people could enslave refugees? What kinds of people could ignore a whole world of misery just outside their world of luxury?
Mara’s quest ends with the successful rescue of refugees, Treenesters and enslaved friends. They are packed onto ships headed toward Greenland where Mara is convinced they will find land on which to settle.
We’re all in luck, as this is the first in a trilogy. Recommended for ages 12 and up.

A good choice for the picture book crowd is Kimiko Kajikawa’s Close to You: How Animals Bond (Henry Holt, 2008). Rich, endearing photographs of parents and their offspring illustrate the spare, poetic text.
Polar bears cuddle in a den of snow.
Ducklings line up in a single row.
Every picture is guaranteed to elicit at least one “awww.” What a treat to see a photograph of porcupines rubbing noses or prairie dogs cuddling. This works well as a read-aloud for ages 3 to 5.

Another book with a similar theme is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Baby Animals: Little Ones at Play in 20 Works of Art (Abrams, 2008) by William Lach.
Details from paintings, tapestries, and even a silk robe from the museum’s collection illustrate this simple theme. The last few pages contain thumbnails of each work of art used in the book. Recommended for ages 3 to 5.
A picture book creation by Sherry North and illustrator Marcellus Hall is like a love letter to a child. Because You Are My Baby (Abrams, 2008) sometimes misses on the rhythm of the poetry, but the soft, textured watercolor illustrations make up for it.
If I were a quarterback, you would dash across the grass
And score the winning touchdown when you
catch my perfect pass.
And the last page–
If I were a genie, I would make your dreams come true…
Because you are my baby, I would do anything
for you.
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

The Sandman, (Henry Holt, June 2008) a picture book by Ralph Fletcher, is a wonderfully imaginative rendition of the age-old story. This sandman is a very tiny grandfatherly man, no bigger than a thumb. He has a problem.
He couldn’t sleep. His head was jam-packed with thoughts, ideas, and worries. All night Tor lay in bed, longing for sleep, desperate for dreams. He tried counting stars … and drinking warm milk … taking hot baths…but nothing worked.
One day, Tor finds a dragon’s scale and discovers that filing the scale creates a fine dust that induces sleep.
Tor decides to share the magical properties of the dragon’s scale with others who have a problem getting to sleep, especially children. He travels from one place to the next, sprinkling the magic dust. When he runs out of the dust, Tor risks his life to obtain another scale. In a glorious two-page spread, the fierce dragon breathes red hot fire. Tor gets his scale—and since dragons live forever, there will never be a shortage of scales.
Recommended for ages 4 to 6.

Lisa welcomes your comments about these books or any other children’s books you enjoy. Her e-mail is booklustr@aol.com.

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