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A carregar... The Crystal Drop (1992)por Monica Hughes
A carregar...
Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Hard to tell for sure how old these kids are, but clues about second grade and Ian being ten make me think Megan is 16. In any case, I'm a little disturbed by the implausibility of it all, how they knew all this survival stuff like skinning gophers & getting out of quicksand etc. I guess post-apocalyptic adventure just isn't really my thing. I would have thought other kids would have liked it more though. Well, I really did like the episode at Buffalo Jump and the characters there, so an extra star for that eerie mystery & character study.
When their mother dies in childbirth, teenaged Megan and her younger brother Ian flee their arid farm—ecological catastrophe has made Canada's Alberta a desert—and, lured by the promise of abundant water, head for the Rockies, braving an array of natural hazards and encountering only a few people (some kind, some not). Setting her story less than 20 years in the future, Hughes creates a barren, sun-blasted landscape marked by old barbed-wire fences and decrepit farmhouses, tumbleweed and hordes of grasshoppers. Unlike Ian, Megan remembers cars, school, and electricity; now, there's neither government nor even rudimentary communication with the outside world. Megan and Ian are strong, believable characters who come through many dangers and reach a haven at the end, but the author's bleak vision of the near future is more vivid than their adventures. (Fiction. 10-12)
In the summer of 2011, the death of their mother sends Megan and her younger brother Ian on a dangerous journey across a Canada ravaged by drought and the collapse of civilization. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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Published in 1993, the story is set in 2011 in Alberta where a teenage girl and her younger brother are orphaned when their mother died in childbirth. They have no other family except an uncle near the British Columbia border. Climate change has brought many changes, drought, heat, lack of services. The farm is desolate and they have been living on gophers and weeds. After burying their mother and the baby in the dust of the river bed they have no option but to set off on foot to find their uncle. One of the first places they come to is a strange and beautiful building that has been taken over by four young men from the Peigan tribe. Although threatening and scary, they help to some extent and provide some information about what turns out to be a famous museum. The pair continue their risky journey, were attacked by survivalists and spent a frightening night surrounded by hungry coyotes, among other near-death experiences. What was shocking but completely believable was that rich and poor were further apart than ever. The rich had green landscapes, unlimited clear water thanks to river damming, and were prepared to protect that vigorously from the poor who had nothing.
This YA book is important because it describes what can happen if we continue to abuse the planet. Setting the story in 2011 may have seemed like a possibility in 1993 but fortunately we've been given a grace period and Hughes' landscape is still in the future. When I read it in the 90s it seemed unlikely to happen in my lifetime but since experiencing the 2021 heat dome of western Canada it was more believable and I enjoyed it even more. Highly recommended. ( )