It's 2035, when children are seen as more important than adults, and the Oldies, like Gandy-Tom's grandfather-are sent to Memory Theme Parks. But Gandy escapes into the world outside their walled city, and Tom has no choice but to follow. And the more Tom learns about the wilderness, the more he wonders: Is the wall meant to keep the Outsiders out, as he's been taught in school-or the Insiders in?
Off the Road ANNOTATION In 2040, eleven-year-old Tom follows his grandfather through the Wall and into the forbidden Wild, where they seek to find his grandfather's boyhood home.
FROM THE PUBLISHER When Tom's grandfather goes off the road, Tom is sure Gandy has gone mad. Tom knows that beyond the wall lies the Outside, a wild place filled with barbarians and unimaginable dangers. He also knows that Oldies are weak-minded. So Tom summons all his courage and goes after Gandy, who obviously doesn't know what he's doing. Or does he? Tom's experience in the strange, messy, emotional world Outside, where so many things prohibited to Insiders are taken for granted, quickly shakes all his certainties. Who is crazy, the Oldies who are sent to the Memory Theme Park, or the families who let them go? Is the Wall meant to keep the Outsiders out, as Tom has always been told--or the Insiders in? Master storyteller Nina Bawden, known for stories in which secrets from the past emerge in the present, has created a spellbinding adventure set in a future society with secrets that make it a chilling mirror of our own.
Nina Bawden is the author of many acclaimed novels for adults and for young people. She lives in London and Greece.
FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly A divided America in the year 2040 is the setting for this novel filled with "imaginative details," said PW. "For sci-fi buffs not yet ready to tackle Orwell's 1984, Bawden here introduces many of the same provocative issues for middle readers." Ages 10-14. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature - Judy Silverman What would life be like if our urban areas were enclosed by a wall and an electrified wire? If roads were the only safe places to walk? If outside the wall there were monsters and wild men, and trees were considered dangerous? If "Rangers" were in charge, and there were no nations? If anyone over 65 (an "oldie") were to be taken to a "memory theme park" and disposed of, like trash? This is a wonderful story of a twelve-year-old boy who follows his grandfather under the wire and past the wall. Tom meets his grandfather's brother, and the rest of his family, and especially his cousin Lucy. While Tom learns to love the freedom he's found, Lucy wants more order in her life. When the Rangers finally catch up with them, both Tom and Lucy have big decisions to make.
School Library Journal Gr 5-8-A novel set in Wales in 2036. Tom Jacobs, 11, and his family are celebrating his grandfather's birthday with an outing to the Memory Theme Park, that is, until Gandy goes AWOL. In this orderly, high-tech society, people reside in neat communities called Urbs, surrounded by fortifications to "hold back the Wild." Children are brought up to fear anything beyond their walls and with the belief that "by sixty-five most Oldies were brain-dead." What the boy doesn't know is that his grandfather is escaping his induction notice into the Nostalgia Block of the facility. Venturing Outside, Tom does not find dragons and trolls as he has been led to expect, but something akin to a time warp. He is introduced to Gandy's brother and his extended family, who are among the large numbers of people who live off the land without electricity or modern conveniences. Through the characters' experiences, readers become aware of the rules and rewards of both societies and must grapple with issues of individual rights and freedoms and the sacrifices that are required to insure security. There are, however, a few problems. In one week's time, Tom transforms from a self-important couch potato into a valued and valiant member of the farm community. While repression and rigidity are alluded to throughout, his decision to return to his parents and his vow to spread the truth seems foolhardy for someone his age. Also, the adults allowing his cousin to accompany him Inside for the summer further belies the danger. An interesting but not entirely successful trip back to the future.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews Bawden (Granny the Pag, 1996, etc.) veers into near-future fantasy in an occasionally heavy-handed novel. In the year 2035, Tom lives with his parents and his grandfather, whom he calls Gandy, in an enclosed environment. They are kept safe from the natural world, which Tom perceives as wild and dangerous. In his world, every family has one child, the words "brother" and "sister" are terrible slurs, children are catered to, and the Oldies, e.g., Gandy, are taken away to Memory Theme Parks when they reach 65, never to be heard from again. When Gandy escapes to the wilds outside, Tom follows him, and finds a world of farming, husbandry, extended families, and many children. He is enchanted by a cousin, baby Joshua, and astounded that elders are respected and admired; he begins to question everything he believes. Bawden takes shots at vegetarians, child-focused families, those who believe elders have neither brains nor emotions, big government, and those who fear ideas of any kind (books are frowned upon by the "Protectors"). While the storyline is occasionally muddled, and some elements (e.g., the rigorously managed society and its dark underside) well-worn, the cast is worth knowing: Tom, Gandy, and the family Outside capture and hold interest. (Fiction. 9-13)
|
