Pucker

May 1, 2006
This suspenseful, well-paced science fiction novel introduces a lonely 17-year-old, isolated because of his disfigurement. Thomas Quicksilver, nicknamed "Pucker" because of his badly burned face (he says he has "the face of a wizened geriatric") embarks on what he believes to be a dangerous mission. His childhood home was Isaura ("a sister world clinging to Earth like a parasite"), where his parents were Seers, people who could see the future because they had a second skin. At age eight, Thomas's face becomes badly burned in a housefire, when the Isaurian Ministry leaves his father dead and his mother barely conscious after flaying both adults' second skin. Escaping to Earth, Thomas's mother, Serena, supports them by telling people's fortunes until she is exhausted and near death. Serena begs Thomas to return to Isaura, to save her life by finding her second skin. On Isaura, Thomas becomes one of the Changed, people recruited from America's ill or disfigured population, then magically cured by the Maker to work in Isaura's labor force. For the first time in nine years, Thomas is desirable. His search for his mother's skin slows as he realizes that he will have to choose between his beauty and life on Earth, where he will return to his former self and be known once again as Pucker. Readers will identify with Thomas's honest voice and the difficult choices he must confront. Gideon (The Map That Breathed) has once again crafted a thought-provoking novel set in an alternate universe. Ages 12-up.

May 1, 2006
Gr 7 Up -Thomas Quicksilver (born Thomas Gale) has lived half his 17 years with burn scars that earned him the nickname -Pucker. - However, neither the scars nor the change in his name is as traumatic as his adventures in the alternative world of Isaura, his birth home. There, Seers hold political power and failed or ruined humans immigrate only to become servants, or Changed, with no personal will. Thomas, who fled Isaura in childhood with his widowed mother, has adapted well to life in contemporary America. However, Serena is losing her life force and sends him on a mission to restore her Seerskin. Once Thomas returns to his homeland -purportedly as one of the Changed -he must avoid being identified by the natives, fight to keep alive his own will to find the Seerskin and return to Earth, become accustomed to his newly invoked movie-star good looks, and cope with other Changed ones, including a feisty girl with whom he falls in love. Gideon -s many characters are nuanced and credible. None is perfect, and even those with major flaws are shown to have positive attributes. The parallel world, with its adherence to late-19th-century technology, offers much to ponder, not only by readers, but also by Thomas. The only shortcoming of this fascinating novel is its abrupt ending, which, at least, comes after he has re-immigrated to Earth and is living with both his recovering mother and his returned keloid scars." -Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 10, 2006
This suspenseful, well-paced science fiction novel introduces a lonely 17-year-old, isolated because of his disfigurement. Thomas Quicksilver, nicknamed "Pucker" because of his badly burned face (he says he has "the face of a wizened geriatric") embarks on what he believes to be a dangerous mission. His childhood home was Isaura ("a sister world clinging to Earth like a parasite"), where his parents were Seers, people who could see the future because they had a second skin. At age eight, Thomas's face becomes badly burned in a housefire, when the Isaurian Ministry leaves his father dead and his mother barely conscious after flaying both adults' second skin. Escaping to Earth, Thomas's mother, Serena, supports them by telling people's fortunes until she is exhausted and near death. Serena begs Thomas to return to Isaura, to save her life by finding her second skin. On Isaura, Thomas becomes one of the Changed, people recruited from America's ill or disfigured population, then magically cured by the Maker to work in Isaura's labor force. For the first time in nine years, Thomas is desirable. His search for his mother's skin slows as he realizes that he will have to choose between his beauty and life on Earth, where he will return to his former self and be known once again as Pucker. Readers will identify with Thomas's honest voice and the difficult choices he must confront. Gideon (The Map That Breathed) has once again crafted a thought-provoking novel set in an alternate universe. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2006
Gr. 8-11. With his face hideously scarred by a childhood fire, 17-year-old Thomas Quicksilver has been cruelly nicknamed "Pucker" by his classmates. But Tom knows that his scars are not the only things that make him an outsider. In fact, he and his mother, Serena, are actually exiles from another world, Isaura, where both of his parents were Seers. Now, to save his mother's life, Thomas must endanger his own by returning to Isaura in search of the seerskin that had been flayed from Serena's body. Though filled with contrivance and a premise that is too complicated, Gideon's first novel has enough page-turning moments of suspense, plot twists and turns, and narrative surprises to hold readers' interest to its improbable happy ending." "(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)