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Favorite Book of 2012
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From: goldschp tds.net <goldschp_at_tds.net>
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 06:58:13 -0600
My hands-down favorite of the year is Morgan Keyes's Darkbeast.
This one is a bit of a hard sell. It's a fantasy novel about a world where children are paired with an animal from birth who shares a telepathic connection with them. They use this "darkbeast" to advise them (keeping the children out of trouble) and providing a confidant for the first twelve years of their life. However, on their 12th name day, the children are obligated by society to kill the animal in order to enter the adult world. Taken literally, that's a horrible sounding story! However, as quickly become apparent, this is a nice heavy metaphor for growing up and Keyes does what children's literature does best: creates a fantasy world where young readers can find an outlet to explore their own feelings about the real world.
That, in itself, makes this a great book. But Keyes does so much more. The world she creates is amazingly fleshed out, not with wizards and warriors, but rather with the mundane details of everyday life, creating a very realistic world and structured society (not all that much unlike our own) where the reader can learn what normal adult life is like. And where a variety of role models are presented to the book's heroine, from which she can choose.
And as for the animal cruelty parts of the book, even read literally, the story ends on an optimistic note that strikes a blow for kindness and compassion, and a bit of nurturing for childhood even as we become adults.
It hasn't gotten much press, but this book deserves to become better known.
Paul Goldschmidt (Not Acting My Age -- http://blog.goldschp.net/)
Received on Thu 06 Dec 2012 06:58:13 AM CST
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 06:58:13 -0600
My hands-down favorite of the year is Morgan Keyes's Darkbeast.
This one is a bit of a hard sell. It's a fantasy novel about a world where children are paired with an animal from birth who shares a telepathic connection with them. They use this "darkbeast" to advise them (keeping the children out of trouble) and providing a confidant for the first twelve years of their life. However, on their 12th name day, the children are obligated by society to kill the animal in order to enter the adult world. Taken literally, that's a horrible sounding story! However, as quickly become apparent, this is a nice heavy metaphor for growing up and Keyes does what children's literature does best: creates a fantasy world where young readers can find an outlet to explore their own feelings about the real world.
That, in itself, makes this a great book. But Keyes does so much more. The world she creates is amazingly fleshed out, not with wizards and warriors, but rather with the mundane details of everyday life, creating a very realistic world and structured society (not all that much unlike our own) where the reader can learn what normal adult life is like. And where a variety of role models are presented to the book's heroine, from which she can choose.
And as for the animal cruelty parts of the book, even read literally, the story ends on an optimistic note that strikes a blow for kindness and compassion, and a bit of nurturing for childhood even as we become adults.
It hasn't gotten much press, but this book deserves to become better known.
Paul Goldschmidt (Not Acting My Age -- http://blog.goldschp.net/)
Received on Thu 06 Dec 2012 06:58:13 AM CST
