Plot Summary: 16 year old Haley's having a hard time adjusting to her mother's disappearance so she finally convinces her father to take her to Iceland, where her mother was last seen. Once there, Haley learns that there's more to the disappearance than she was led to believe. Her father had been having an affair and her mother ran away from him when she found out, and got more than she bargained for. Then Haley finds a strange coin and events are set in to motion that she can't stop and it seems that the Norse myths are real and Haley and her new friend Ari, son of the woman her father had an affair with, are trapped in an otherworldly realm that it's going to take all of their wits to get out of. Slowly, working together, they start to see what they're dealing with, but is it too late?
Critical Evaluation: A lovely tale that combines classic teeange angst with a backdrop of Iceland and Nordic myths. At times the back and forth between real life and the myth can be confusing and the timeline muddled, but at it's heart this is an adventure of two heros up against the odds. This genre is exploding as we speak and soon we'll have enough in the genre to separate the good from the bad. I'm confident that when the dust settles Simner's effort will rise to the top.
Reader's Annotation: Haley knows that there's more to her mother's disappearance than her father is letting on and the only way to learn more is to go to Iceland, so that's where she's headed.
About the Author: Janni Lee Simner grew up in New York and attended Washington University in St. Louis. She has written several fantasy stories for young adults and children.
These days Simner is married and lives in Tuscon, AZ. She maintains an active personal blog.
Information retreived from http://www.simner.com/
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: Geography/history of Iceland as important to the plot. Myths of Iceland.
Reading Level: 11+
Interest Age: 13+
Challenge Issues: N/A
Why is This Included: Good version of the myth retelling genre outside of the commonly used greek myths.
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