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Star Wind
Camden returns from a month at camp to find her best friend and other classmates frighteningly changed and devoted to a mysterious young man named WT-3.
181 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 1, 2020
NEW REVIEW BASED ON REREAD:
So I picked up this childhood favorite to satisfy PopSugar's "Read a Book with a Made-Up Language" prompt. Not every detail I had in my head was 100% accurate, so I'm going to recap again, and then add my thoughts.
When Camden comes home from summer camp, things are different with her best friend Mitch. He's using new slang that he calls The Words, and hanging out with a new friend WT. Mitch brings Camden to meet WT, and she instantly doesn't like him, but she is entranced by "The Game" that they all play together, which can best be described as being comprised of a series of very trippy, otherworldly experiences. At night, Camden visits the Bronze Planet in her dreams, a place ruled by an autocratic teacher who assigns story problems as punishment and charges a word tax.
What Camden eventually comes to realize is that the two events are connected. While playing The Game, WT is stealing the words and memories of the "Kidsters" like Cam and Mitch. He then brings them to The Teacher, whose quest for knowledge has twisted her into a maniacal despot. This is why Cam is having trouble reading The Jungle Book—she has literally lost words.
As a kid, this book scared me to death. The idea of authoritative leaders stealing your ability to communicate, to leave written records was deeply disturbing. It brought to mind Nazism and burning books and censorship. Now, as an adult, it still conjures up some of the same fears, especially in light of America's current leadership. (I am wholly unsurprised that this was written by someone who worked at CNN.) But the language spoken by the Kidsters in the book actually reminded me of something was totally not a thing in the late 80s when I first read this. WT tells the Kidsters that The Words are to be used so that adults don't understand what is being said. As an adult, I've seen many, many articles cautioning me, as a parent, to be wary of teen speak on the internet. That while I might know what LOL and TTYL mean, do I know what CU46 or NIFOC means? So the scenes in Star Wind when Mitch uses The Words to confuse a waitress, and later, Cam's mom, (tears=onions, hitchcock=ketchup, mewler=cat, unit=person), I was very much reminded of the 21st-century version of this same issue.
I liked this book slightly less as an adult than as a kid. It very much shows its age in some places, calling the homeless "bums," for example. And the relationship Cam has with her parents is so very After School Special. It lacked a certain depth. But it's keeping its 5 stars, because it clearly made a lasting impact on me, which means it was well done, even if the plot resolution was a little weak.
ORIGINAL REVIEW BASED ON MEMORY:
This book scared the ever-loving daylights out of me as a kid. The premise is that a bunch of kids invent their own language. No big deal, right? However the protagonist gets transported to this alternate universe where there is a word tax, which is paid with actual words. Once a word is used to pay the tax IT CAN NEVER BE USED AGAIN. The word disappears from the lexicon. It obviously becomes harder and harder to pay the tax, with lists of "used" words nailed on the castle walls. When someone finds a word that hasn't been used yet, they face danger as people try to steal the word. The evil queen has some reason for doing all this, which I have subsequently forgotten (seriously, I read this like 30 years ago). Of course, the protagonist triumphs in the end. But the idea that you could have words taken away from you scared me and disturbed me in ways I didn't fully understand until I was much, much older. This is a HELL of a book, and even as an adult it still creeps me out, just looking at it on my bookshelf. It shouldn't be dismissed as "just" a kid's book. It might be for middle schoolers, but it's like 1984 for junior high.
So I picked up this childhood favorite to satisfy PopSugar's "Read a Book with a Made-Up Language" prompt. Not every detail I had in my head was 100% accurate, so I'm going to recap again, and then add my thoughts.
When Camden comes home from summer camp, things are different with her best friend Mitch. He's using new slang that he calls The Words, and hanging out with a new friend WT. Mitch brings Camden to meet WT, and she instantly doesn't like him, but she is entranced by "The Game" that they all play together, which can best be described as being comprised of a series of very trippy, otherworldly experiences. At night, Camden visits the Bronze Planet in her dreams, a place ruled by an autocratic teacher who assigns story problems as punishment and charges a word tax.
What Camden eventually comes to realize is that the two events are connected. While playing The Game, WT is stealing the words and memories of the "Kidsters" like Cam and Mitch. He then brings them to The Teacher, whose quest for knowledge has twisted her into a maniacal despot. This is why Cam is having trouble reading The Jungle Book—she has literally lost words.
As a kid, this book scared me to death. The idea of authoritative leaders stealing your ability to communicate, to leave written records was deeply disturbing. It brought to mind Nazism and burning books and censorship. Now, as an adult, it still conjures up some of the same fears, especially in light of America's current leadership. (I am wholly unsurprised that this was written by someone who worked at CNN.) But the language spoken by the Kidsters in the book actually reminded me of something was totally not a thing in the late 80s when I first read this. WT tells the Kidsters that The Words are to be used so that adults don't understand what is being said. As an adult, I've seen many, many articles cautioning me, as a parent, to be wary of teen speak on the internet. That while I might know what LOL and TTYL mean, do I know what CU46 or NIFOC means? So the scenes in Star Wind when Mitch uses The Words to confuse a waitress, and later, Cam's mom, (tears=onions, hitchcock=ketchup, mewler=cat, unit=person), I was very much reminded of the 21st-century version of this same issue.
I liked this book slightly less as an adult than as a kid. It very much shows its age in some places, calling the homeless "bums," for example. And the relationship Cam has with her parents is so very After School Special. It lacked a certain depth. But it's keeping its 5 stars, because it clearly made a lasting impact on me, which means it was well done, even if the plot resolution was a little weak.
ORIGINAL REVIEW BASED ON MEMORY:
This book scared the ever-loving daylights out of me as a kid. The premise is that a bunch of kids invent their own language. No big deal, right? However the protagonist gets transported to this alternate universe where there is a word tax, which is paid with actual words. Once a word is used to pay the tax IT CAN NEVER BE USED AGAIN. The word disappears from the lexicon. It obviously becomes harder and harder to pay the tax, with lists of "used" words nailed on the castle walls. When someone finds a word that hasn't been used yet, they face danger as people try to steal the word. The evil queen has some reason for doing all this, which I have subsequently forgotten (seriously, I read this like 30 years ago). Of course, the protagonist triumphs in the end. But the idea that you could have words taken away from you scared me and disturbed me in ways I didn't fully understand until I was much, much older. This is a HELL of a book, and even as an adult it still creeps me out, just looking at it on my bookshelf. It shouldn't be dismissed as "just" a kid's book. It might be for middle schoolers, but it's like 1984 for junior high.
to-read-ya
July 25, 2009This writer supposedly wrote the screenplay for Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and THE LION KING. It also looks as if she wrote the screenplay for the new ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie that is coming out.
November 6, 2010
I liked this book, it's an easy kids book to read.
Teaches the value of words (which is used something like a currency)and I read it a few times as a kid; I think it was a primary motivator for me to stop using internet lingo to type. :D
Teaches the value of words (which is used something like a currency)and I read it a few times as a kid; I think it was a primary motivator for me to stop using internet lingo to type. :D
May 13, 2009
This was a weird sci-fi book--for little people. It was supposed to be symbolic; like the "Teacher" that tried to steal their words.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews