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Truckers (Bromeliad Trilogy Series #1)

Name: Truckers (Bromeliad Trilogy Series #1)
Author: Terry Pratchett
ISBN: 9780062193827

by Terry Pratchett

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Overview

The first title in the hilarious fantasy trilogy about the nomes.

Reluctant to believe that there's a world outside the department store in which they live, Torrit, Dorcas, and the other nomes look to Masklin, a newly arrived "outsider," to lead them to a safe haven when the store goes out of business.

About the Author, Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett's many honors include the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Printz Honor, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Britain's Carnegie Medal, the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for lasting contribution to young adult literature, and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. His books have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide. Knighted for his "services to literature," Sir Terry lives in England with his wife and many cats.

Biography

Welcome to a magical world populated by the usual fantasy fare: elves and ogres, wizards and witches, dwarves and trolls. But wait—is that witch wielding a frying pan rather than a broomstick? Has that wizard just clumsily tumbled off the edge of the world? And what is with the dwarf they call Carrot, who just so happens to stand six-foot six-inches tall? Why, this is not the usual fantasy fare at all—this is Terry Pratchett's delightfully twisted Discworld!

Beloved British writer Pratchett first jump-started his career while working as a journalist for Bucks Free Press during the '60s. As luck would have it, one of his assignments was an interview with Peter Bander van Duren, a representative of a small press called Colin Smythe Limited. Pratchett took advantage of his meeting with Bander van Duren to pitch a weird story about a battle set in the pile of a frayed carpet. Bander van Duren bit, and in 1971 Pratchett's very first novel, The Carpet People, was published, setting the tone for a career characterized by wacky flights of fancy and sly humor.

Pratchett's take on fantasy fiction is quite unlike that of anyone else working in the genre. The kinds of sword-and-dragon tales popularized by fellow Brits like J.R.R. Tolkein and C. S. Lewis have traditionally been characterized by their extreme self-seriousness. However, Pratchett has retooled Middle Earth and Narnia with gleeful goofiness, using his Discworld as a means to poke fun at fantasy. As Pratchett explained to Locus Magazine, "Discworld started as an antidote to bad fantasy, because there was a big explosion of fantasy in the late '70s, an awful lot of it was highly derivative, and people weren't bringing new things to it."

In 1983, Pratchett unveiled Discworld with The Color of Magic. Since then, he has added installments to the absurdly hilarious saga at the average rate of one book per year. Influenced by moderately current affairs, he has often used the series to subtly satirize aspects of the real world; the results have inspired critics to rapturous praise. ("The most breathtaking display of comic invention since PG Wodehouse," raved The Times of London.) He occasionally ventures outside the series with standalone novels like the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, a sci fi adventure sequence for young readers, or Good Omens, his bestselling collaboration with graphic novelist Neil Gaiman.

Sadly, in 2008 fans received the devastating news that Pratchett had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. He has described his own reaction as "fairly philosophical" and says he plans to continue writing so long as he is able.

Good To Know

Pratchett's bestselling young adult novel Only You Can Save Mankind was adapted for the British stage as a critically acclaimed musical in 2004.

Discworld is not just the subject of a bestselling series of novels. It has also inspired a series of computer games in which players play the role of the hapless wizard Rincewind.

A few fun outtakes from our interview with Pratchett:

"I became a journalist at 17. A few hours later I saw my first dead body, which was somewhat…colourful. That's when I learned you can go on throwing up after you run out of things to throw up."

"The only superstition I have is that I must start a new book on the same day that I finish the last one, even if it's just a few notes in a file. I dread not having work in progress.

"I grow as many of our vegetables as I can, because my granddad was a professional gardener and it's in the blood. Grew really good chilies this year.

"I'm not really good at fun-to-know, human interest stuff. We're not ‘celebrities', whose life itself is a performance. Good or bad or ugly, we are our words. They're what people meet.

Reviews

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

British author Pratchett's first YA novel is a rollicking tale about a race of ``nomes''--little people who came from outer space and now live under the floorboards of a department store. Since the store is about to be demolished, the nomes must be convinced to move out, even though most of them don't believe in such a thing as Outside. After all, the store has ``Everything Under One Roof!'' In a story reminiscent of Mary Norton's The Borrowers , Pratchett has added distinctive touches of his own to the hilarious complications that ensue. One of the novel's greatest strengths is the depiction of the civilization the nomes have built for themselves, including an intricate religion based on advertising signs. hung in the store. Truckers is funny enough to warrant sequels (at least one more tale is promised), but a clearer resolution would have made this a more satisfying read. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Led by young Masklin, a small band of four-inch-tall nomes join a larger society of nomes living in a human department store. When they learn that the store is to be destroyed, rival factions come together to find safety, and learn the surprising truth about their origins. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Originally published in 1989, this first book in the Bromeliad Trilogy traces the experiences of a group of nomes struggling for survival. Masklin, the novel's hero, and his band of other nomes live in the wild world of humans just outside a convenience store located along the highway and frequented by semi-trucks. Their difficult life inspires them to go in search of something better. They hop a truck and they are dropped off in a department store inhabited by more nomes than they ever believed existed. These store nomes, however, possess a limited vision of reality and do not believe in the world beyond the walls of the store. After all, their sacred text notes that their maker, Arnold Bros. (est. 1905), created a place that contains "All Things Under One Roof." Masklin and his crew find themselves in a community rife with conflict, as each department is run by a different group hell bent on maintaining its status. When the nomes learn that the store is soon to go out of business, they are forced to trust Masklin in the formation of a plan that requires a daring escape and leap of faith. Filled with wry humor that calls into question the nomes' blind faith in Arnold Bros. (est. 1905), the novel encourages readers to ponder the larger issues of truth in their own lives. Inclusions of the sacred text lend authenticity to the struggles faced by the nomes as they wonder about their fate in the eyes of their master. 2004, HarperTrophy/HarperCollins, Ages 12 to 17.
—Wendy Glenn, Ph.D.

"A wry tongue-in-cheek fantasy…which unhesitatingly lampoons the ingrained habits and complacent attitudes found in any society."

"Terry Pratchett has created a wild adventure, a fable, a fantasy, an elegant satire." Lloyd Alexander

"Fascinating and funny."

"Witty, funny, wise and altogether delightful."