What Came from the Stars

August 6, 2012
In his new novel, Schmidt (Okay for Now) shifts from historical fiction into out-and-out fantasy. Sixth-grader Tommy Pepper lives in Plymouth, Mass., where his mother’s recent death has shell-shocked his small family. Meanwhile, in a far-off galaxy, an epic battle between good and evil has reached its apex. To save the most important aspect of his culture, Young Waeglim forges the “last of the Art of the Valorim” into a chain and hurls it into space, where it streaks past comets and stars before landing in Tommy’s lunchbox. He puts it around his neck, and special powers ensue. Tommy’s chapters are vintage Schmidt, with improbably named characters, authentic (and funny) classroom dynamics, and his familiar stylistic tics of referring to characters by both first and last names and frequently repeating key phrases. The alternate story is written in a heroic but dense prose style that verges on parody (“And on the eighth day, between the rising of Hnaef and the rising of Hengest, the Lord Mondus forged an arm ring from the orluo of Yolim and Taeglim...”). The strands come together in a rousing battle scene, but it may take a determined reader to get to it. Ages 10–14.

Starred review from May 1, 2013
Gr 6-8-Tommy Pepper is in the school cafeteria trying to hide the embarrassing superhero lunch box his grandmother sent him for his 12th birthday when it suddenly clatters to the floor. When he retrieves it, it's not the same lunchbox. The shape has changed, and the scene depicted is of another world. Inside he finds a shimmering green and silver chain which he slips around his neck beneath his shirt. Suddenly, Tommy knows things that other people don't, his artistic abilities seem to bring his creations to life, he can play the piano like a virtuoso, and he can catch a long pass like a pro. But the only newfound ability that Tommy really cherishes is the one that allows him to relive his memories of his mother. Wracked with guilt over her death, the recalling of happy times together feels like a kind of absolution. When an unknown assailant begins to threaten the entire town, Tommy realizes that they are after the necklace. But he's loath to give it up until his father and sister become part of the bargain. In alternating chapters, the story switches between Tommy's world and the world of the Valorim (from a planet across the cosmos) who forged the chain. The tale of the Valorim is told in a formal style, rich with words from an invented language. Narrator Graham Winton does an excellent job of keeping Gary Schmidt's sci-fi fantasy (Clarion, 2012) flowing despite these shifts in writing style and language. He is so adept at speaking the invented language that listeners will begin to decipher the meanings even without the benefit of the glossary (included at the back of the book). His performance brings to life this beautiful tale of healing and forgiveness in a way that goes way beyond just reading the text yourself. A must-have for middle school and public libraries.-"Cary Frostick, Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA"

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
On a distant planet, the besieged Valorim send a necklace containing their planet to Earth in a last-ditch effort to save their civilization. Tommy Pepper, a sixth-grader living in Plymouth, Mass., finds the necklace, wears it and is gradually changed by it. He doesn't acquire the otherworldly powers of a Superman, as the story's premise might suggest, but he does begin to utter unusual words and imagine a strange world with two suns. He begins to remember his recently deceased mother in fond detail that eases his loss. His uncanny drawings and paintings actually have movement and new kinetic powers help him silence bully Cheryl Lynn Lumpkin on the school bus. He even creates a living creature out of sand, reminiscent of the Golem of Jewish lore or David Almond's Clay (2006). Meanwhile, there's a behind-the-scenes intergalactic battle going on for the necklace, which fans of the movie Men in Black may find pleasantly familiar. Italicized scenes from the planet of the Valorim alternate with Tommy's narrative in Plymouth, though readers will be challenged by Schmidt's obvious delight in creating an Anglo-Saxon planet, which has a corresponding Old English vocabulary requiring a seven-page glossary. Spielberg, get ready for this boldly imagined outer-space offering. (Science fiction. 10-14)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 6-8-There's a pretty good story at the center of this novel. Twelve-year-old Tommy Pepper, his little sister, and their father are struggling through the grief of his mother's sudden death. Tommy and his mother parted on bad terms that terrible day, and he feels that her anger precipitated her car accident on an icy road. Patty has not spoken since. The family is also resisting the attempts of an unscrupulous developer to oust them from their beloved house in Plymouth, Massachusetts, so she can build waterfront condominiums. That's plenty of fodder for an absorbing plot. But Schmidt has wrapped Tommy's story inside an unsuccessful sci-fi fantasy. On a distant planet, evil, duplicitous beings have nearly conquered the good guys. In desperation, one of the heroic types makes a Chain out of the Art of his civilization and launches it into space, and it falls into Tommy's lunch box. All well and good, except that readers have no idea what the planet looks like or what normal life consists of there. The language in this part of the book is ponderous; for example, "Not a one of the Valorim did not weep for what would be lost together." Readers need to plow through pages of impenetrable prose before they meet Tommy. And every time they get swept into his story, it's brought to a halt. Schmidt is an accomplished, talented author who excels at creating characters dealing with tricky moral dilemmas. He has taken a risk in attempting to write in a new genre, but it's a risk that did not pan out this time.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.