Customer Reviews

Gaia Girls Enter the Earth

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a former English teacher and current staff developer, I am always excited when a new writer ventures into the difficult world of juvenille literature. Was I in for a treat. This was not just another new wannabe publishing her first novel. This is the real deal. What a joy to read!

I am the proud mother of a three year old Gaia Girl. She rescues worms from the sidewalk as soon as the rain ends, puts fallen flower petals back in the pots with their "mommies", and knows when the tree in our backyard is happy or sad by the conversations she and the tree have. More than once she's sobbed as I mowed over dandelions in our yard. Her heartfelt love of all things living is sincere. As I read the book, I experienced an odd mixture of emotions. I could imagine Elizabeth as she was a toddler and my daughter as a teenager. I'm watching a deep love much like Elizabeth's grow in my daughter and Lee Wells captured it perfectly. Her clever style of mixing fabulous fiction with an important message about protecting our Earth both entertains us and makes us think. I've already passed my copy on to a teenage friend who enjoyed it so much she can't part with it to return it. Guess I know who I'll be buying Book Two for!

The first thing that struck me when I received my book was the quality of construction. It's a beautiful hardback with dust cover and sensational illustrations. Not your typical book. It will survive many readings (which it will surely get), and will be passed to future generations.

The story is marvelous. Its a great book to read together with your children, and is interesting for both young and adult. Its great to have a book for kids with messages I am comfortable imparting. The worst part about this book is that it ends. I can't wait for the next one!

Elizabeth Angier is a fourth-grader who lives on a farm. She helps her parents weed the large vegetable garden, dye skeins of wool from their sheep, arrange wildflowers into bouquets to be sold at the farmers' market, and water the saplings that landscapers buy. Will, the high school boy from the dairy farm over the hill, comes over to help her dad on occasion. Elizabeth loves everything about growing up on the farm that has been in her father's family for many generations. But all this threatens to change: a company that runs "CAFO" (Concentrated Feeding Animal Organizations) pig farms arrives to woo struggling farmers into selling their farms and taking jobs with the large corporation. As Elizabeth's parents desperately research the effects of existing CAFO's on a community's air, water, commerce, and quality of life, Elizabeth herself discovers her own connection to the earth and the powers that gives her. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, appears to her as an otter, and begins to teach her.

That's just a brief synopsis of Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth, recent winner of the 2006 National Outdoor Book Award, children's division. Although this is a fantastical novel that author Lee Welles has written for children ("ages 9 and up"), many parts of the story ring true for communities like ours. Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth takes place on a farm in upstate New York, near the Finger Lakes. Much of it reads like home, the beauty as well as the struggles.

Although I consider myself sympathetic to environmental activists, I am leary of being lumped in with folks who wear hemp and eat vegetarian because it's trendy. In sitting down to read Gaia Girls, I was a little afraid that the story would be heavy-handed on earth goddesses but skim over the true difficulties of living environmentally-aware. I am pleased to report I couldn't have been more wrong. "Three Oaks Farm" is an organic farm, but Welles makes it clear that this makes the Angier family and their products unusual for their community. They need to be very creative to be successful: they advertise their organic produce to upscale restaurants, who pre-order from the farm. Another way they make money is by selling many different products: wool, vegetables, flowers, young trees, honey. Though Elizabeth and her parents feel they live a happy life in a corner of paradise, Welles doesn't flinch from showing how fragile that existence is, and how much work it takes to maintain it.

Welles' writing is strong. At the beginning, I was reminded of Charlotte's Web. As I continued to read Gaia Girls, I realized I was in the middle of a wonderful new literary phenomenon. I see this book, and the series to follow, touching many as it touched me. Enter the Earth reminded me of environmental issues and earth science facts that I already know about, but made me feel more attached to them. Without being preachy, Gaia Girls helps the reader see the science behind farming methods that are good for the earth, and how it is healthy for the people who live there and those of us who eat the food grown there. With Elizabeth, we can connect to the farm, as she and the farm connect to the earth. I raced through the book, loved the story, and can't wait for more.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" and editor of "A Predatory Heart"

As an organic vegetable farmer I read a very much enjoyed Lee Welles' book Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth. It was great to read a book that was so entertaining and yet had such an important message about factory versus family farms encoded in a way that is understandable to young readers, but not preachy or boring. I found myself sneaking in a chapter here and there throughout the day, even during my busy planting season- a must read for any environmentally conscious family! This book is a great tool to teach kids about the value of family farms and the true cost of factory farming.

This retired teacher still loves to read kids' books. Gaia Girls:Enter the Earth is just the most amazing book...great, gripping story, excellent values if we want to have a planet, lots of learning, and, to my personal happiness, a female hero! The illustrations are wonderful, too - and, happily, there are lots of them! I am so glad to read on Gaia Girls' website that there will be more books in the series. Can't wait.

Hook your favorite young reader into learning about sustainable practices with Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth...and don't forget to read it yourself! I couldn't put it down, and lost some shut-eye, but...WOW!

Enter the Earth is the first book in a series that looks to be quite entertaining. I bought it for my kids and ended up reading it first! It has elements that can appeal to all readers: some fantasy, some family interaction, some environmental message that's not preachy, some action adventure. Can't wait for book two......!!!

This is a wonderful story that captures your senses and takes you along on the adventure. Lee writes with such creativity and passion and it shows in every chapter! I highly recommend this read for both young and old. I absolutely cannot wait for book 2!

We bought a copy of "Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth" for our grand-daughter, but when the book arrived I read the first couple of pages and found I was hooked!

It's a difficult task to write something that appeals to both youngsters and oldsters, but Ms. Welles has done a fantastic job weaving an extremely entertaining story plot with the monumentally important message that we are all threads in Earth's incredible web of life and that our actions have planetary consequences.

We're ordering four more copies (for now) to share with friends and family (including our grand-daughter!) and we're impatiently waiting for Book 2 to become available.

This is my new fav. book now. I loved it so much. My teacher read it to my class. My favorit character was Gaia. I couldn't breath everytime she was in the story. It's so cool! I want Book II NOW... I would recommend this book to anyone who loves good stories. Even the boys really liked the book tooo. Like they all like the powers, kinda like narnia and H.P. series.

As a retired teacher I was overjoyed to read this first Gaia Girls book. It has real characters leading real lives. The spiritual connection to our world is handled delightfully and carefully. The spiritual aspects are not connected to organized religion, but to a love for the planet and all that it holds. I sent copies to my female grandchildren, but they tell me their mother grabbed it first. I highly recommend this. I can't wait for the next two volumes!