Amy’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2008)

Amy’s comments from the The Underneath group.

ending---

i was quite shocked when the Alligator King ate his last meal. even more suprised than i was at Grandmother's betrayal or Calico's death. did Applet really just do that? i thought. kill the evil human in the jaws of wise predator. it was so satisfying, so perfect, but what does that say about me? is that a little sliver of evilness growing in me? How can I feel so very triumphant at this violent event? or was justice served?

I'd have preferred a much "darker" cover, but feel the illustrations inside worked really well. The 11 and 12 year old kids I know adore those silly Twilight books, and part of their appeal is in the packaging. My students appreciate a little blood, death, and evil in their reading lives, which is why I've got such high hopes for this book. The cover seems targeted too much at the adult audience---at adults who don't really like to acknowledge that 11 and 12 year olds are more than ready to chew on big bites of dark realism.

I'm quite optimistic that many of my sixth graders next year will enjoy this as a choice reading book. I'm already trying to figure out a budget that lets me buy a six book set for a book club group.

I'm a tad concerned that they'll get a little lost in some of the swampy poetic language, but they'll work through it and hopefully just revel in it.

I'm staying out of the born or made debate on evil, but I really, really liked the chapter when Gar Face first meets the Alligator King and he hungers like mad for RESPECT. I see that in lots of kids I know and it's a quality I can understand far better than his cruelty to Ranger.

Puck survived.

So far--this story deserves the hype. Thanks y'all for talking it up.

A favorite recent selection:

....Hawk Man and Night Song, in their new skin had slipped away. For trees, who see so much sorrow, so much anger, so much desperation, know love for the rare wonder of it, so they are champions of it and will do whatever they can to help it along its way.


wow. wow. wow.