The Other Side of the Island

Earth Mother is always watching... And one brave girl is about to find out why.

From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. From Kaaterskill Falls to Intuition, Goodman's fiction proves that she can tackle big subjects with unobtrusively graceful and perceptive prose. Her first YA offering, a dystopian eco-fantasy in which a malevolent Corporation lulls North America's few remaining inhabitants into complacency with memory-altering substances, misinformation, fake skies and a leader named Earth Mother, is a top-notch genre piece—but not her most robust storytelling. Honor is 10 when she and her parents are forcibly brought back from the supposedly uninhabitable North to Island 365; in one of the few but clever twists on convention, it is Honor's parents who actively rebel, and Honor who embraces Earth Mother's laws, at least at first. When her parents are inevitably caught, it falls (predictably) to Honor and another child to rescue them; this plot line depends on coincidence and inconsistencies, but dramatic pacing and otherwise shrewd psychological insight help camouflage these flaws. A subtle frame places an omniscient narrator in an even more distant future; in slyly casting a retrospective eye on her story, the author opens the apparent outcome to the reader's questioning, and this may be the most innovative aspect of her novel. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)  

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–8—Honor and her parents have been forcibly relocated to a seaside shack, the most dangerous living facility in this carefully constructed dystopia. In this future world, reminiscent of that in Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993), the Corporation, headed by the mysterious Earth Mother, has created a totally controlled society. Lands are being enclosed to protect the inhabitants from freak natural weather, and "safe" weather is created with overlays—fake sunrises and sunsets projected daily on the sky. Honor's parents refuse to conform. Honor suffers from being different, but when she meets Helix, a boy whose parents are also intent on rebelling against the Corporation, the two children must discover a way to rescue Helix's parents and Honor's mother, who have been "taken" and turned into the zombielike orderlies who mindlessly serve the government. Honor's evolution from someone willing to conform to make life easier and safer to one committed to fight for her individuality is believable. The increasingly sinister atmosphere, echoing elements of National Socialism and China's Cultural Revolution, is well done. Parodies of self-help books for children ("What It Feels Like When Parents Disappear") add grim humor. Miss Blessing, one of the Corporation toadies, with her perfectly buttoned cardigan and high sweet voice, is a particularly chilling character. A compelling science-fiction novel.—Quinby Frank, Green Acres School, Rockville, MD