I was recently sent a copy of the book 2 in Andrew Peterson Wingfeather Saga, North or Be Eaten. I knew of Andrew Peterson the musician, but had never read any of his writing before. My first questions was, What's the Wingfeather Saga? (Let's just pretend that we're doing a little interview here with Mr. Peterson instead of his website, okay?) :)
It’s a series of five (but possibly three) fantasy adventure novels about the three Igiby children, Janner, Kalmar, and Leeli. At the beginning of the story Janner is twelve, Kalmar (who’s nickname is Tink) is eleven, and their little sister Leeli is nine. They’re accompanied by Leeli’s dog Nugget, their mother Nia, and their ex-pirate grandfather Podo Helmer.
They live in a world called Aerwiar, which is exactly like our world–except they don’t have electricity or gunpowder, and there are all sorts of creepy animals, like sea dragons and toothy cows. Janner, the eldest, is about to discover that the ordinary little town where they live is anything but ordinary. In fact, he and his family are at the center of a great mystery that will change their lives forever.
Okay, I'm interested ... but what makes this book different from all the other children's fantasy books that have seemingly flooded the market in the last few years since the advent of Harry Potter?
... this is a story about light and goodness and Truth with a capital T. It’s about beauty, and resurrection, and redemption. But for those things to ring true in a child’s heart, the storyteller has to be honest. He has to acknowledge that sometimes when the hall light goes out and the bedroom goes dark, the world is a scary place. He has to nod his head to the presence of all the sadness in the world; children know it’s there from a very young age, and I wonder sometimes if that’s why babies cry. He has to admit that sometimes characters make bad choices, because every child has seen their parent angry or irritable or deceitful–even the best people in our lives are capable of evil.
But of course the storyteller can’t stop there. He has to show in the end there is a Great Good in the world (and beyond it). Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to show how beautiful is the prick of light. Gather all the wickedness in the universe into its loudest shriek and God hears it as a squeak at best. And that is a comforting thought. When a child reads the last sentence of my stories, I hope he or she drifts to sleep with a glow in their hearts and a warmth in their bones, believing that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
If you want to see other thoughts on this book it's also being reviewed at: The 160 Acre Woods, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Homeschool Book Buzz, KidzBookBuzz.com, My Own Little Corner of the World, My utopia, Olive Tree, Reading is My Superpower, Through a Child’s Eyes
This tour was organized and run by KidzBookBuzz.com!
Ooohh, Stephanie, I hope you get a chance to read book 1 also. It does an important job developing Janner's character, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to do this pseudo-interview. You have some excellent quotes here.
Becky