Thorn - Hardcover

Levin, Betty

3.22

18 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932425462 ISBN 13: 9781932425468

Publisher: Front Street, Incorporated, 2005

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Thorn is condemned to the sea by the people of the High Island because of his crippled leg. To save him, his father builds a boat and sails into the unknown searching for the land his parents came from, a land destroyed by a giant wave. The survivors call themselves the People of the Singing Seals and they are ambivalent about Thorn joining them. Only the Great Mother who is trying to recover the history of her tribe and Willow, a young woman who is apprenticed to her, risk getting close to Thorn. The fate of the People of the Singing Seals is precarious: few children are born, most of those are malformed. The tribe is dying. Is Thorn with his shriveled leg and strange ways a good omen or a threat?

Betty Levin has written a deeply layered tale examining the relationship between past and future, history and fate.

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About the Author:

Betty Levin was born in New York City and she currently lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She is a sheep farmer, border collie trainer, and children's novelist. Her many books include The Keeping Room, The Ice Bear, The Trouble With Gramary, Fire in the Wind, Island Bound, Shadow-Catcher, Away to Me, Moss, and Shoddy Cove. She has taught at Pine Manor Open College, Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Radcliffe Seminars. She is a former fellow of the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College. She was a founding member of the Board of Children's Literature New England, and in 2000 received the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Foundation for Children's Books.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8–A story set in an unidentified prehistoric time. When Thorn is to be sacrificed for the good of the people on the High Island, in the hopes of reversing their fortunes, his father arranges for him to return to his grandparents' home, the People of the Singing Seals, rather than be killed. Yet Thorn doesn't fit there either, and his crippled leg breeds suspicion and distrust among the People. Only Willow, a girl being trained as the next Keeper of Story, dares approach Thorn and tries to befriend him. Although he is suddenly accepted, even venerated by the People, he does not feel safe there, so he begins planning his escape. Told in alternating chapters by Willow and Thorn, the story is uneven, requiring some leaps of faith (and reason). Middle school readers will be frustrated by the inconclusive ending. Although the dialogue and superstitions lend authenticity to the setting, they cannot save the story. A disappointing read from Levin, who excelled in portraying primitive life in The Ice Bear (1986) and The Banished (1999, both HarperCollins).–Melissa Moore, Union University Library, Jackson, TN
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