In a final act of defiance and glory, the Valorim forge a necklace containing their art and send it off into the stars before they fall to a dark lord. It travels across light years and finally reaches a planet in a distant solar system--where it falls into Tommy Pepper's lunchbox. Tommy Pepper unknowingly absorbs the art of the Valorim and soon he starts making paintings that come to life, speaking in a strange language, and referring to events that sound like they come from a fantasy novel. At first his friends don't know what to make of it, but when the dark forces that conquered the Valorim come to Earth, they start to believe in his crazy talk.
This book is a unique mix of high fantasy, science fiction, and a realistic school story unlike anything I've read before. The parts involving the Valorim are written in a high fantasy style involving plenty of invented words and archaic language patterns (like Lord of the Rings). The parts involving Tommy and his family coping with their mother's death and getting along with his friends at school read like a regular school story. The writing is superb in both styles and full of meaty issues, complex characters, and fantastic world-building. If you like aliens, J.R.R. Tolkien, and school stories you’ll enjoy this interesting mix of the three. The difficult, stylized language in the parts with the aliens makes this most suitable for strong readers.
What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt
Erica's Picks
6th - 8th
Tags: Adventure, Contemporary Fiction, Family Life, Fantasy, School Stories, Science Fiction
This book is a unique mix of high fantasy, science fiction, and a realistic school story unlike anything I've read before. The parts involving the Valorim are written in a high fantasy style involving plenty of invented words and archaic language patterns (like Lord of the Rings). The parts involving Tommy and his family coping with their mother's death and getting along with his friends at school read like a regular school story. The writing is superb in both styles and full of meaty issues, complex characters, and fantastic world-building. If you like aliens, J.R.R. Tolkien, and school stories you’ll enjoy this interesting mix of the three. The difficult, stylized language in the parts with the aliens makes this most suitable for strong readers.
What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt
Erica's Picks
6th - 8th
Tags: Adventure, Contemporary Fiction, Family Life, Fantasy, School Stories, Science Fiction
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