Our First Guest Post: A Book Review!

Go ahead, ask me how excited I get when a student I had 2 years ago sends me a book review she wrote... just because she loved the book so much.  Seriously, go ahead... Well, this much (holds arms out wide*).

In October of 2009, we read Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, an enthralling mix of realistic fiction, historical fiction, mystery with a layer of fantasy on top.  The story ended up taking home Newberry Gold  that year and lucky us, one of Rebecca's 8 stops was at Wellesley Books.  In room-mother-organized caravan, 14 students made the trip.

The following review, exceptionally written, is of Rebecca's debut novel, First Light.  A sincere thank you to Caitlin for sending this along.

Who says living under the ice isn’t possible? Who says Greenland is just an unexciting piece of ice? Not Rebecca Stead, who tells us the exact opposite in her first novel, First Light.  First Light tells the story of two very different people. The first is Peter, who lives in New York with his mom and dad. The second is Thea, a girl who lives in a world hidden below the ice in Greenland.   Her people retreated there when her people were accused  of witchcraft and are now nearly extinct.  Thea lives an entirely different life than Peter under Greenland’s ice. When Peter’s father, who studies glaciers, announces a family trip to Greenland to  learn about the glaciers there, Peter is thrilled to go. Little does he know that while he is there, he’ll discover things he never imagined and while searching for explanations, Peter comes closer and closer to Thea’s world under the ice.

Full of detail and interesting twists and turns, First Light is a creative, wonderfully written novel definitely worth reading. Everything in the book has a purpose. Every single thing you read will somehow tie into the story somewhere along the way, sometimes in the most unexpected and interesting ways, which is probably my favorite thing Stead does. She could somehow make a paper cup important to the story and it would still be interesting. Stead also gives you great visuals. You can’t help but wonder what living under the ice is like—even having no idea what the sun looks like. The characters in this story are probably some of the most interesting I’ve ever come across. You can start the book off having one opinion about a character, and end the book having your opinion be the total opposite of what it was before. Along the way, you learn as the characters learn.  It could be life lessons or untold secrets from the past. Just when you think you know everything there is to know about the characters, Stead proves you wrong with another twist and keeps the story interesting the whole time.

Stead’s First Light is definitely something to pick up next time you need something to read. It’s an engaging, fascinating story full of mysteries and new discoveries that anyone—child or adult—will enjoy.


First Light Online


Read Rebecca's Blog

So what, 14 kids traveled two hours to meet an author? I still made them do homework. 

But, to their credit, they chose to read. 

Newberry Medalist Rebecca Stead

*fingers extended outward mimicking a line's infinite extension.