Teenreads.com -- THE OUTCASTS by L.S. Matthews

THE OUTCASTS
L.S. Matthews
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Fiction
ISBN: 9780385733670
272 pages

Iz is a troublemaker who always ropes his buddy Joe into trouble. Mia is withdrawn and strange. Helen is pretty and popular, but has a secret she hides from her demanding family. Chris seems normal, but has become lazy and complacent in his privileged life. These five teens are chosen for a school field trip, little knowing that their visit to the country will include a trans-dimensional adventure during which they must work together or die.

THE OUTCASTS is a darker, more complicated book than L.S. Matthews’s debut fable, FISH. It touches on the students' many real-world problems --- such as abusive or inattentive parents --- while containing the conceptual challenge of a multi-dimensional world.

"Everyone has a dimension," their guide Johan says after they accidentally stumble out of their ordinary world. "A dimension is your reality. You create it. You inhabit it. Dimensions cross, meet. Of course there are other dimensions too, not just people's."

The dimension the students encounter mirrors the world of their field trip, but it contains a number of deadly challenges. Together they must navigate pits, pools filled with poison jellyfish, paths guarded by an angry wildcat, and a pond in which an alligator lurks. To overcome these challenges, the schoolmates must use their individual skills and different ways of thinking to solve the dimensional puzzle.

The story is pushed along by the dimension, which literally pushes the characters onto their next challenge while everything outside the dimensional boundary disappears. It is also aided by an interactive screen that is activated and used by the power of thought. The timed puzzles, along with the hovering and glowing screen with its mysterious symbols, give the entire adventure the feel of a game.

The classmates, removed from their ordinary problems and settings, are generally supportive of one another and able to envision creative solutions to their challenges. The most moving portion of the book involves a moment when each of the characters gets to step through a door and briefly experience a possible future. Each of them sees a more positive life than the one they are currently living. They see futures in which they have loving families, prestigious jobs, or a great deal of satisfaction in a personal hobby.

Matthews's descriptions of the web that support the multi-dimensional reality are a bit vague, as is the unresolved question of the intelligent force that pushes the classmates into their adventure. However, the glimpses into positive futures make up for any shortcomings. The purpose of fiction is to be able to explore other ideas and possibilities outside of the ones we live. In offering her readers a peek into other worlds and better futures, Matthews fulfills her dedication at the opening of the book: "To the young people of whom too much has been demanded, and nothing is expected."

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

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