Book talk: 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 on 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.
Rocks my socks: 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. The parts involving Tommy and his family coping with their mother's death and getting along with his friends at school contains a lot of compelling characters and issues. Both of them could easily make up their own story, but when the two combine it creates a fascinating hybrid. The writing was superb in both styles and full of meaty issues, complex characters, and fantastic world-building. I absolutely adored it!
Rocks in my socks: none
Every book its reader: Because this book is a combination of genres it is a bit more difficult to find its audience. Those looking for a school story and unused to invented languages could be easily turned off by the writing in the sections about the Valorim while those looking for a fantasy adventure novel may not like the realistic sections. But if you can keep an open mind and enjoy reading across different genres then this book is well worth reading. I'd give it to 5th grade and up.
Source: ebook from the public library
What Came From the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt: buy it or check it out today!
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