Marleigh+J.



First Light  Written by: Rebecca Stead

 Do you think Libertyville winters are cold? What if you lived in a world made of ice? What if you lived under a glacier?  This is the world you find in the book, First Light by Rebecca Stead.

 The book's science theme is global warming. The author explains the effects of global warming on our world as well as a world under a glacier, a place called Gracehope. The author tells the story of the two worlds by telling the story of two characters at the same time. The author goes back and forth between the story of Peter, who lives in New York with his parents and the story of Thea, who lives under the ice in a glacier in Greenland. When the author is with Peter, the language she uses is one we all know. But when she is in Gracehope with Thea, she uses different words that took some time to understand. Words like Mainway, for the main street, lightglobes, for lights, and first light, for morning. This made reading the book hard at first but you get used to it.

 The main characters in New York are:  Peter, a seventh grader, Peter's father, Dr. Gregory Solemn, who is glaciologist, a scientist who studies glaciers and global warming, Peter's mother, Rory, also a scientist who is studying DNA,  Jonas, an Inuit, who is Dr. Solemn's graduate student assistant,  and Miles, Peter's best friend.

 The main characters in Gracehope are:  Thea, who is ten and four years old (the language used in Gracehope),  Lana, the aunt who cares for Thea,  Mattias, Thea's best friend,  Peg, Thea's Chikchu dog companion, (the breed Chikchu, only found in Gracehope), <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> Rowen, Thea's grandmother, <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">and Dolan, Thea's boss at the dog breeding grounds where Thea is an apprentice.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> The story's setting goes between New York City, a world we all know and Gracehope, a world that exists under the ice. It sounds like our world at times but then it doesn't. You only get around Gracehope in sleighs and you have to skate everywhere. There are no phones or cell phones or TVs or movie theaters! There is nothing modern in the world of Gracehope. It is very old fashioned. So, it is hard to picture that world but it's also kind of cool, too, because I would like to ice skate wherever I went like Thea.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> The story's plot is about the trip to Greenland that Peter gets to go on with his Dad, his Mom and Jonas. Peter begins the trip thinking that they are in Greenland to study the effects of global warming on the glaciers. But the story takes a very different turn when he meets up with Thea and Mattias and he is taken into their world under the ice. Peter also learns that the headaches that he has are not the result of some disease but actually are a special gift. Thea also has a special gift and she learns that she shares that gift with Peter's mother. The story is also about the connection between dogs and the people that care for them. In the story, there are times when the dogs save the people and then there are also times when the people save their dogs.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> I think that most seventh graders would like to read this book because the main characters are around the same age. I also think you would like to read this book because it tells you about a completely different world. You also learn a lot of very cool facts about glaciers.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">I recommend this book because I liked the two main characters, Peter and Thea. You really want to know how these two are connected when they live in two completely different worlds. I also liked how dogs played a big part in the story. I love dogs so it was great to read about how the dogs in the story were more than just pets. They were important to the survival of all the characters.

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