Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Silver Falls Library | JF LAFLEUR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | J FICTION LAFLEUR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | J LaFleur, S. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Beautiful Blue World is a thrilling and moving story of children who become the key to winning a war.
Sofarende is at war. For twelve-year-old Mathilde, it means food shortages, feuding neighbors, and bombings. Even so, as long as she and her best friend, Megs, are together, they'll be all right.
But the army is recruiting children, and paying families well for their service. If Megs takes the test, Mathilde knows she will pass. Megs hopes the army is the way to save her family. Mathilde fears it might separate them forever.
This touching and suspenseful novel is a brilliant reimagining of war, where even kindness can be a weapon, and children have the power to see what adults cannot.
Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, Outstanding Merit
ILA-CBC Choices Reading Lists, Teacher's Choice
Junior Library Guild Selection
Nominated for multiple state awards
Author Notes
Suzanne LaFleur is the author of Love, Aubrey; Eight Keys; and Listening for Lucca. She lives in New York City, where she decorates her walls with the handprints of children she loves. Visit her online at suzannelafleur.com.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-With her country at war, 12-year-old Mathilde and her family are in danger from bombings and the shortage of much-needed supplies. There is an army aptitude test for children that would provide money and a certain degree of safety for one's family, and Mathilde's best friend Megs is determined to take it. Mathilde, too, decides to take the test, though she's certain that of the two of them, Megs will be the one picked. But it's Mathilde, not Megs, who is selected by the army, and she is sent to a location where other children and teens work on special assignments to aid the war effort. Mathilde feels completely out of place, unsure what she can possibly contribute, until one day she is given a secret assignment that changes her understanding of the war and her own future. Christy Carlson Romano ably narrates this thought-provoking story of war. Her measured delivery matches Mathilde's empathetic character. VERDICT Listeners experience the fear, confusion, and guilt Mathilde feels through the steady first-person narration, which builds to a climax that will leave them anxiously awaiting the sequel.-Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
LaFleur's endearing novel takes place in a fictional land during an unspecified, escalating war. As 12-year-old Mathilde Joss's hometown comes under increasing attacks, an offer to join the Adolescent Army for handsome pay to those selected tempts many families. Mathilde reluctantly sits for the aptitude exam and is shocked to be accepted-without her best friend Megs. Frightened about going to war and heartbroken over leaving her family and friend, Mathilde is surprised to arrive at a huge mansion, where the Adolescent Army is comfortably housed while they decode messages, predict bomb strikes, and set their nimble minds to help with the war effort. Confused as to what her own contribution might be and consumed with guilt over being protected when her family is not, she soon receives an unusual assignment that provokes questions of enmity, loyalty, and trust. LaFleur (Listening for Lucca) creates a warm boarding-school setting peopled with kind adults and children alike. Readers will be drawn in by the underlying belief that kids' work is important and powerful, and eager for the promised sequel. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In an alternate war-torn universe, twelve-year-old Mathilde takes a test to qualify for a secret (seemingly sinister) military operation, which necessitates leaving her family and best friend, perhaps forever. She unexpectedly passes and is sent to an idyllic Bletchley Parklike organization for brainy kids. The plot unfolds clumsily, but Mathilde's struggles and her sympathetic personality carry readers through to a cliffhanger ending. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
When 12-year-old Mathilde Joss agrees to take the adolescent army aptitude test alongside best friend Megs and a classroom full of fellow preteens, she's certain she won't pass. Three days later, Mathilde is selected to serve in the secretive adolescent division of Sofarende's army, transported from her war-torn hometown Lykkelig to Faetre, a manor secluded in the country's northwest mountains. While her peers work to detect patterns and decipher codes, Mathilde alone is presented with a startlingly separate assignment: daily discussions with Rainer, a Tyssian POW. Through harrowing chats, tormented paintings, and, sometimes, solemn silences, the ever-earnest Mathilde works to unravel decisive remnants of Rainer's past and present, from his favorite color to his deepest regret. The foreign yet familiar fictional landscape, a blend of quasi-European dialects and U.S. ideals we had voted to become one country is eerily accessible, and Mathilde's narration, fraught with fear, empathy, and wonder, makes for a timely look at wartime horrors and hopes. Readers still reeling from the final cliff-hanger will eagerly await the sequel.--Shemroske, Briana Copyright 2016 Booklist