Starfields

October 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-Marsden's book is best when it focuses on Rosalba, a nine-year-old Mayan girl who lives in a remote area of Mexico and whose people still follow the beliefs of their forebears. Ideas such as appeasing the Earthlord for good weather and crops contradict the contemporary viewpoint of Alicia, a child from Mexico City who is traveling with her father as he researches environmental concerns in the region. Nevertheless, the girls become fast friends. Alicia helps Rosalba realize that her isolated community must take a proactive stance against the damage of encroaching road construction. First, though, Rosalba has to overcome limitations imposed on her by her own culture. Interspersed with the chapters about Rosalba's fight to make herself heard are the words of an unidentified individual undertaking ancient rituals; these segments are rife with unfamiliar terms, and the tone is overwrought and cryptic. Rosalba and the finally named shaman meet across time and space, but it comes too late to be satisfying. In the final analysis, though, the annoying shaman's accounts are a minor quibble because Rosalba's story of self-realization is a strong one, and the juxtaposition of traditional and new ideas delivers considerable food for thought. A burgeoning environmental crisis is timely, as well.-Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011

In Marsden's latest tale of cross-cultural friendship, a modern Mayan girl fights to protect her rural Mexican village from encroaching development.

Nine-year-old Rosalba Nicho lives a peaceful life with her parents and siblings in San Martín. Everything changes when she becomes friends with 8-year-old Alicia, a light-haired, green-eyed ladina from Mexico City. Camping nearby while her father works to preserve the local frog population, Alicia dominates most conversations and the friendship in general, establishing a problematic colonizer motif that runs throughout the novel. Soon, government workers inexplicability start bulldozing a road to San Martín, and more frogs begin to die. The author intersperses these third-person chapters with a mystical first-person narrative, following the life of a young male seer named Xunko in 600 C.E. The two narratives finally connect when Xunko begins visiting Rosalba's dreams, showing her ways to save her village. Unfortunately, with the exception of Rosalba and Xunko, most of the Mayan characters appear petty, ignorant and/or violent. The importance of Mayan weaving and the use of the Popol Vuh add authenticity, yet the intended audience may be overwhelmed by the dual narratives, the environmental aspects, brief references to the Zapatistas and the (unfortunate) inclusion of the Mayan 2012 "apocalypse" prophecy.

While the concluding author's note provides explication of some of these elements, some readers may not stick it out. (Spanish/Mayan glossary) (Fiction. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2011
Grades 5-7 Nine-year-old Rosalba lives in rural Mexico, where her community clings to the remnants of their Mayan heritage. After befriending an Anglo girl whose scientist father studies the local frogs, Rosalba is introduced to a world of information: the frogs are dying off from a fungus; the world is getting warmer; and a Mayan prophecy states that the world will end in 2012. Meanwhile, in an earlier era (and in alternating chapters), a young Mayan shaman sees the potential destruction to the earth and tries to reach Rosalba to tell her how she can help change a devastating outcome. Marsden, who often writes across time and place, goes further in this book. Especially in the shaman's chapters, a level of knowledge is assumed that might not be there for middle-grade readers, and Rosalba's story also demands some suspension of disbelief about what a child can accomplish. On the other hand, the story is so dripping with myth and mystery that kids will be intrigued, and as always, Marsden's writing is beautiful and her knowledge about children's hearts is immense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)