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| Thank you, Mandy, for the picture! |
Without setting out to read a book for the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, I realized that this book is a perfect fit. Hale's main character was born without her right forearm, but this is not a book about a girl with a disability. It's about a girl who saves the world from an alien invasion.
The last time I checked in with Shannon Hale, she was writing about princesses (who were also all strong girl characters, regardless of their royalty), so this switch to seriously science fiction was quite a shift. But a good storyteller is a good storyteller, and strong characters are strong, whether or not they are missing limbs.
There's too much teen romance for this to be a book I would put in my 5th grade classroom library, but I would definitely recommend it to all of my students (especially the girls) who have read The Hunger Games.
One of my favorite things about this book was the literary references. In the acknowledgements, Hale credits her high school English teachers, and notes that she has quoted Poe, Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, and Frost.
On page 56, Maisie goes to space for the first time and tries to describe what it's like to look back at the Earth.
"I wish I could explain better. NASA's next urgent mission should be to send good poets into space so they can describe what it's really like."
It does sound like a good read, Mary Lee. I'll keep it on the wish list!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely day you had - breakfast, books, Art Festival, reading a great book. I love summer!
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love the poetry/NASA quote. Don Graves used to always say that scientists make good poets because they need to be such careful observers of the world.
ReplyDeleteI love this 48 hour book challenge idea. I am trying to get back into my reading - miss it so much. Thank you for reminding me of the joy of "submission" to the craft of reading!
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