Nation

Nation by Terry Pratchett

I have read but one of this author’s books before. He is quite well-known for his “series” called Discworld. I was not even aware of him until I started working in the Children’s Department and I was a literature major in college. Such a shame. I think there could be a class on Discworld. Why, there probably is… somewhere.

I read The Wee Free Men years ago. It was a new book with an attractive cover and I really enjoyed it. But when its sequels arrived, I was seriously entrenched in reading the Caudills. AND I had discovered just how large and various the Discworld series is and was a bit overwhelmed. When I realized that The Wee Free Men belonged to the series, well, I didn’t want to go any further without catching up. Even though I was assured that it wouldn’t hurt to read just the series within a series.

Introducing… Summer Reading! I have greatly enjoyed reading books that I want to read regardless of their “list” status. I have read an abundance of books that just called to me from the shelf. Mixed in with those books, without even realizing it, I also took on several recommendations from my co-workers. This one comes from Miss Nancy and she says that the audio book of this title is PHENOMENAL!

Mau is a boy on the verge of manhood. He has left behind the island of his youth, his family and his boy’s soul. He has been placed on the Boys’ Island where he must survive on his own and find a way to return home within 30 days. If he can accomplish this, he will be a man and will receive not only the tattoos of men, but also a man’s soul. This is what “should have happened.” But it did not.

Instead, a tsunami of horrific proportions ravages this part of the ocean and attempts to destroy the islands and the life upon them. Mau had been safe, safer on the water in his little canoe. When he arrives home, he finds devastation and death. He is alone. He might have chosen death for himself except that someone needed to send the dead into the ocean so that they might become dolphins according to their beliefs.

Mau thinks he is alone, but he is not. Another, larger, stronger, foreign ship has beached – treed – on his island. There is a lone survivor. A thirteen-year-old girl. A white girl. One who has been raised to be a lady. A girl that is 138 heads away from being the Queen of her land. And her father will come to get her. Someday.

The cover of the book reads, “When much is taken, something is returned.” Can Daphne replace the hundreds of the lost? Not alone, but she is very resourceful. And, like Mau, she steps into her new responsibilities and roles. She is a “woman of power.” The two become the new leaders as little by little, other survivors find the island of Nation. When the adults are weak, the children move forward.

This is quite a powerful book. Kids will read it and appreciate the adventure and the comic relief. Adults will read it and read it again. It could almost be required reading for a class on philosophy or religion. I would recommend it for Junior High and up, both boys and girls. The question is, “How will you respond to God, when everything has been taken from you?”

In Mau’s case, it would be the gods. The voice of Locaha – Death – speaks to him. He also hears the voices of the Grandfathers in his head. Daphne will hear voices as well. But they won’t be the voices of the religion in which she was raised which is definitely Christianity. An author’s note states that the book is not set in our world, but an alternative one. And the story indicates that Britain is in its conquering mode. Missionaries are out to win the savages. It is a “questioning” book. So parents should be prepared.