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by Lois Lowry
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by Markus Zusak
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Improvising on the Celtic legend of the selkies--seals that take on human form--Peck has created an uneven but stylish first novel. Lured by the plaintive cries of a seal pup near her family's Maine cottage, young Molly stumbles over the gruesome remains of its butchered mother. Later, a mysterious girl shows up at Molly's elderly friend Ruby's house, a girl named Meara with glossy dark hair and odd ways. Readers will guess Meara's secret (she is a selkie) long before Molly does, but that won't spoil the bittersweet ending, in which Meara makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the life of her beloved new friend. Peck's prose doesn't always ring true--the first-person narrative clashes somewhat with the haunting, lyrical mood she's trying to create--and there are a few cliches (the wise elderly grandmother figure, for one). Nevertheless, Peck displays an eye for imagery (Molly's little brother Douglas looks at Meara "the way he looked at the candles on his birthday cake when he loved them too much to blow them out"), and proves herself a writer to watch. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 9-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-6-- An involving first novel. Spending the Christmas vacation on an island in Maine with her parents and younger brother, Douglas, ten-year-old Molly hears the cries of a baby seal and finds the nightmarish body--skinned--of an adult seal on the beach. Not long after that, a girl comes to stay with Ruby, a widowed island woman whom Molly's family has known and loved for years. The girl, Meara, is loving, interested, and mysterious, and she eventually tells Molly that she is a seal, and that the dead seal was her mother. In the end, Meara sacrifices her time on land in order to save Molly's drowning dog, and she returns to the sea. Molly's conflicting emotions and needs are deeply felt, as is her love for the island. Characterization of the rest of the family and Ruby is sufficient if brief, but Douglas seems to change ages occasionally, being both too young and too old at times. Ruby's lost love and her connection with a bull seal who comes to console her in her grief is sketched in lightly, but adds a note of romance and mystery. Meara herself is fascinating yet somewhat ungrounded. Her desire to stay on land after her mother's death is surprising. By creating her own modern version of how selkies must make their choice between sea and land, establishing an arbitrary "once and once only," Peck intrigues readers but loses the power inherent in older legends of the seal people. Be that as it may, this is still a good story of friendship, love and loss, and the mysteries of the sea. --Sara Miller, Nassau Library System, NY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
Improvising on the Celtic legend of the selkies--seals that take on human form--Peck has created an uneven but stylish first novel. Lured by the plaintive cries of a seal pup near her family's Maine cottage, young Molly stumbles over the gruesome remains of its butchered mother. Later, a mysterious girl shows up at Molly's elderly friend Ruby's house, a girl named Meara with glossy dark hair and odd ways. Readers will guess Meara's secret (she is a selkie) long before Molly does, but that won't spoil the bittersweet ending, in which Meara makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the life of her beloved new friend. Peck's prose doesn't always ring true--the first-person narrative clashes somewhat with the haunting, lyrical mood she's trying to create--and there are a few cliches (the wise elderly grandmother figure, for one). Nevertheless, Peck displays an eye for imagery (Molly's little brother Douglas looks at Meara "the way he looked at the candles on his birthday cake when he loved them too much to blow them out"), and proves herself a writer to watch. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 9-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-6-- An involving first novel. Spending the Christmas vacation on an island in Maine with her parents and younger brother, Douglas, ten-year-old Molly hears the cries of a baby seal and finds the nightmarish body--skinned--of an adult seal on the beach. Not long after that, a girl comes to stay with Ruby, a widowed island woman whom Molly's family has known and loved for years. The girl, Meara, is loving, interested, and mysterious, and she eventually tells Molly that she is a seal, and that the dead seal was her mother. In the end, Meara sacrifices her time on land in order to save Molly's drowning dog, and she returns to the sea. Molly's conflicting emotions and needs are deeply felt, as is her love for the island. Characterization of the rest of the family and Ruby is sufficient if brief, but Douglas seems to change ages occasionally, being both too young and too old at times. Ruby's lost love and her connection with a bull seal who comes to console her in her grief is sketched in lightly, but adds a note of romance and mystery. Meara herself is fascinating yet somewhat ungrounded. Her desire to stay on land after her mother's death is surprising. By creating her own modern version of how selkies must make their choice between sea and land, establishing an arbitrary "once and once only," Peck intrigues readers but loses the power inherent in older legends of the seal people. Be that as it may, this is still a good story of friendship, love and loss, and the mysteries of the sea. --Sara Miller, Nassau Library System, NY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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