Thorn

by Betty Levin

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 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.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2005

About the author

Betty Levin lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, as a sheep farmer, border collie trainer, and children's novelist whose many books include The Keeping Room, The Ice Bear, The Trouble With Gramary (winner of the Judy Lopez Memorial Foundation Award), Fire in the Wind, Island Bound, Shadow-Catcher, Away to Me, Moss and its sequels, 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.

Betty 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.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was interesting in a backwards take on a Lord of the Flies theme. The adults were childlike having been left to themselves as children. The new generation shows their lack of upbringing and yet still proves to be more flexible to new ideas. While I liked the cultural ideas of the book I did not enjoy the characters and I found much of their interactions to be personally annoying. Perhaps I spend too much time with my own small children to want to read about immature behavior and short attention spans.

[Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was interesting, though. I kind of wished that the people would have slightly changed some of their ways to Thorn's better ones, or at least really accepted him.
I did not like that "open" ending, either.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good. interesting ideas. disiked the very "open" ending.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

good idea and inspiration, but fails to build up from such.

too many loose ends.
what is the author's purpose

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt as if it went in circles, which to the point of Willow's attempts with her villiage is what I guess the writer was aiming for. However, the ending was rushed and unconvincing.