Ten-year-old Honor Greenspoon lives in a time following all of the polar ice melts --- after floods cover most of the land, widespread war breaks out, and the survivors begin putting society back together. In fact, she is born in the eighth year of Enclosure, a time of new beginnings for the survivors, in which the Corporation has constructed a ceiling over the colonies for safety.
Like all the other children born in the eighth year, Honor’s parents picked out a name from the approved list of H names. Those born in the seventh year have names that start with G, while those born in the ninth year will have names starting with I. These naming rules are just a drop in a very full bucket of rules that the Corporation has set forth to ensure safety and order for the survivors.
Unfortunately, Honor’s parents don’t like to follow the rules very much. They sneak out after curfew and slip past the barricades to view the real night sky hidden behind the false one projected onto the protective ceiling. They even choose to keep their second child when no one else ever has one (or, if they do, they give the baby to a couple who can’t have a child of their own). So Honor has a baby brother named Quintilian. This is yet another way for Honor to stand out and not fit in with society. And Honor desperately wants to blend in.
Honor works hard at school, learns all the correct answers supplied by Corporation, and even ends her friendship with Helix, because none of the other girls are friends with the boys. However, nothing she does or says convinces her parents to conform. And when people don’t follow the rules, they disappear. Corporation can’t afford to have people joining in with the rebel group led by the elusive Forecaster. Then one day, Honor comes home from school to find her parents gone.
Award-winning author Allegra Goodman has delivered another champion of a story. Her vast and robust imagination has created a foreign and frightening world to replace our own familiar one, a world with incredibly harsh rules and even harsher punishment. Goodman uses this setting well, taking a refreshing approach to address a worthy message about finding the courage to be oneself and standing up for what’s right. And then she further spices it up by mixing in danger, action, cleverness and suspense. Along the way, she skillfully builds the character of Honor as she changes, grows, matures and discovers herself over the ages of 10 to 14. This talented writer also uses just the right words to paint a vivid, lifelike picture to surround and immerse the reader into this captivating story.
--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND
