The Hermit Thrush Sings                           Reviewed by: The Whiz Kid

 
 

The bird with the most beautiful voice in the world, the hermit thrush, said to sound like a waterfall backwards, hasn't sung in about a hundred years. A young girl, Leora, who has a webbed left hand that can draw the future and make animals understand her, changes this and more when she sets out to find her sister, Reba. This epic tale, The Hermit Thrush Sings, is by Susan Butler, and I hope she writes many more superb books.      The story takes place after the apocalypse in Manor, formerly known as Maine. Manor contains villages, which are numbered one through fifteen, and also has forbidden places, which are places without villages, such as edge lands and the forest. Manor is an exciting place because it has a `ghost town', only scary because of its name, because there are rebels with their own island, and because there are mutant animals and plants, such as, for example, birmbas and nitta berries. It is also a sad place because if you're deformed, then you're automatically `bad'. The rulers order guards to kill anyone who believes that deformed people should be treated as equals. Also, it is a sad place is because they make black people work just because they're black. Finally, Manor is also a dangerous place because the guards want to kill Leora, whose stepfamily doesn't care about her, and the institute, a bogus mental hospital, wants to have her.      Leora, the main character in the book, has sky blue eyes, light brown hair, pale lips, and, as indicated, a webbed left hand. Leora is courageous because she went into the forbidden land, freed a birmba, and went to the rebel's island. Leora is kind because she used everything in her power to save village fifteen's women, healed the men during the battle, and brought vital information to the rebels. She's intelligent because she knows that the mutant plants are edible and birmbas are friendly, she switched the ammunition with the food supply, and she got the keys from Wiggala. She plays a major part in helping the rebels,      The conflict for Leora is to find Reba and later to help the rebels in battle. The most important parts of this book are when she learns of the past, escapes to the edge lands, and goes to village fifteen. Leora learns that it doesn't matter how you look on the outside, what counts is what's on the inside.       I give this book two thumbs up. It reminds me of other novels I've read which feel like an adventure book but are classified in a different genre. This book is classified as a mystery, but it also gives you the feeling of an adventure book. I would recommend this book to people age eleven through fourteen of both genders because it isn't too difficult and the main character is thirteen. Will the hermit thrush sing? I know, and if you read this book you will, too. Happy reading.