Overview
What a time for an exchange student to arrive, Daria thought, especially one from another planet! Daria is one of Earth's youngest licensed breeders of endangered species, and she has enough to do caring for her menagerie without having to cope with Fen. Besides his color-shifting and endless questions, there is something about the way the lanky alien looks at her animals and his stubborn, even hostile refusal to talk about the creatures of his own world that makes Daria nervous. Fen, on the other hand, can't be happier with his new Earth family. Hoping for one pet, he lands in a zoo. Not one of his fellow exchange students, living in homes scattered across the Earth, has been as lucky, but each has found at least one animal to love, and all cherish the same wild, mysterious dream. With a sharp eye for human, alien, and animal ways, Kate Gilmore has written a challenging tale.
When her mother arranges to host one of the young people coming to Earth from Chela, Daria is both pleased and intrigued by the keen interest shown by the Chelan in her work breeding endangered species.
Synopsis
What a time for an exchange student to arrive, Daria thought, especially one from another planet! Daria is one of Earth's youngest licensed breeders of endangered species, and she has enough to do caring for her menagerie without having to cope with Fen. Besides his color-shifting and endless questions, there is something about the way the lanky alien looks at her animals and his stubborn, even hostile refusal to talk about the creatures of his own world that makes Daria nervous. Fen, on the other hand, can't be happier with his new Earth family. Hoping for one pet, he lands in a zoo. Not one of his fellow exchange students, living in homes scattered across the Earth, has been as lucky, but each has found at least one animal to love, and all cherish the same wild, mysterious dream. With a sharp eye for human, alien, and animal ways, Kate Gilmore has written a challenging tale.
Horn Book
(Young Adult)
Daria, a licensed breeder of endangered species, cares for over forty animals in her specially designed bedroom, as well as numerous birds and other outside animals. Nevertheless, she finds herself ill-prepared for the introduction of a new species into her family's household when her mother volunteers to take in an exchange student from the planet Chela (the year is 2094). Over seven feet tall and pale gray in color-except when intense emotions change his skin to vivid shades of pink, green, and red-Fen responds to Daria's zoo with a curiously worshipful fascination. The plot thickens when the other Chelan exchange students-with whom Fen maintains contact by means of a secret video communicator-urge him to abduct a pair of animals. When Fen gains access to the gene bank at the Ark, the conservation center Daria works for, the stakes are raised even higher. The third-person narration alternates between Daria's and Fen's perspectives and sometimes shows events from a minor character's viewpoint, which helps all of the individuals to seem fully alive. Complex and thought-provoking, the novel integrates a wildlife-conservation theme thoroughly into the plot, setting, and characterization. And although the theme is expressed more urgently toward the end as tension rises-Fen confesses that the animals of Chela have been extinct for five hundred years and that the "exchange students" have come to Earth specifically to try to repopulate their planet-the strength of the novel as a whole keeps it from overwhelming the story with its cautionary message. Fascinating details about the animals in Daria's care and the conservation efforts undertaken at the Ark, as well as descriptions of Fen's quirky behavior, add texture and depth to an original tale. anne st. john
Editorials
Horn Book
(Young Adult)Daria, a licensed breeder of endangered species, cares for over forty animals in her specially designed bedroom, as well as numerous birds and other outside animals. Nevertheless, she finds herself ill-prepared for the introduction of a new species into her family's household when her mother volunteers to take in an exchange student from the planet Chela (the year is 2094). Over seven feet tall and pale gray in color-except when intense emotions change his skin to vivid shades of pink, green, and red-Fen responds to Daria's zoo with a curiously worshipful fascination. The plot thickens when the other Chelan exchange students-with whom Fen maintains contact by means of a secret video communicator-urge him to abduct a pair of animals. When Fen gains access to the gene bank at the Ark, the conservation center Daria works for, the stakes are raised even higher. The third-person narration alternates between Daria's and Fen's perspectives and sometimes shows events from a minor character's viewpoint, which helps all of the individuals to seem fully alive. Complex and thought-provoking, the novel integrates a wildlife-conservation theme thoroughly into the plot, setting, and characterization. And although the theme is expressed more urgently toward the end as tension rises-Fen confesses that the animals of Chela have been extinct for five hundred years and that the "exchange students" have come to Earth specifically to try to repopulate their planet-the strength of the novel as a whole keeps it from overwhelming the story with its cautionary message. Fascinating details about the animals in Daria's care and the conservation efforts undertaken at the Ark, as well as descriptions of Fen's quirky behavior, add texture and depth to an original tale. anne st. john