From: Mercado, Nancy <NMercado>
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 11:17:35 -0500

I was so glad to see Mary's post about Last Book in the Universe. This book was one of my surprise favorites of the year as well.

I think that with the amount of amazing books that deal with futuristic societies....we tend to think that it's "all been done before"..but this book proved to be a bit different. It was such a quick, vivid and at times, scary read. The characters are so appealing and have such a sweetness about them. I love the theme of the quest that always seems to permeate Philbrick's books. I found the old man character, Ryter, to be very similar to Kevin in
"Freak the Mighty" in the way that he was so elevated (spiritually) above his tough surroundings...

Another favorite of mine, which I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, was Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer. I loved the voice of the protagonist, Hope. I loved her optimism and I loved the "Fried Green Tomatoes feel" that this book had. It was a very simple, satisfying and quirky read.

There were tons of other greats...but they've all been previously applauded!


Nancy Mercado Book Clubs Scholastic Inc.

"I know that I am late for the Dec. topic, but am wondering if any of you out there have read Rodman Philbrick's Last Book in the Universe? This is one of "those" books which lurks in your mind long after the last page has been read. Philbrick sets the scene in the future when no one reads or has real memories-all experiencing is done through "probing" wherein one hooks up his/her brain to a machine. The main character -a teen who cannot probe due to epilepsy-meets up with the last person who reads/writes while on a quest to find a sick family member. Many levels of interpretation/discussion and parallels to The Giver, Gathering Blue,
(Lois L) and N. Schusterman's The Dark Side of Nowhere." Mary Reilly-Kliss
Received on Fri 05 Jan 2001 10:17:35 AM CST