The World As We Know It

November 14, 2011
Critically-acclaimed Monninger, known for outstanding character development and lavish landscapes, does it again with this tale of young New Hampshire brothers and the world they construct. Ed and Allard live in a small room under a massive "dream map,â sharing visions of exploration and building a spectacular future. While ice-skating down the river, they find Sarah, a stranded girl stuck in the ice who changes the course of their adventures. The three become fast friends and, over the years, come to inhabit a world completely of their own. Determined to be wild-life filmmakers, they work to achieve some notoriety and discover everything mother nature has to offer. The love between this dogged, adventurous trioâespecially the adolescent love of Allard and Sarahâis innocent, sincere, and touching. Monniger (Eternal on the Water) presents a fascinating exploration about true love, fate, and the roads taken in life.

December 1, 2011

The workshop in Allard Keer's basement is described as a "space that made visitors stop and silently evaluate their own lives." The same could be said for the characters in this latest novel from Monninger (Eternal on the Water), who live in such a peaceful and well-mannered way. Allard's family members seem contented and methodical as they pursue life and craft in a beautiful Northeastern setting. They live close to the land, working with wood, raising barns, and eventually starting a wildlife documentary company. The earnest efforts of Allard and his brother, Ed, are reliably rewarded; their first film gains notice, and they turn professional. When Sarah, Allard's lifelong love, decides to write, she is published immediately and begins a career writing nonfiction on animal rights. Conflict comes relatively late in the narrative, when a sudden tragedy threatens to unravel the core relationship in the book: that between soul mates Allard and Sarah. VERDICT This ruminative, poetic novel may resonate with modern fiction readers as well as lovers of the outdoors.--John R. Cecil, Texas State Lib. & Archives, Austin

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2011
Monninger's latest, following his celebrated YA novel Wish (2010), is about love and nature and how the two combine for brothers Allard and Ed in rural New Hampshire. Determined to skate to Canada on the Baker River, the brothers are stopped when they see a young girl and her dog break through the ice. After rescuing the girl, Sarah, a life-long relationship forms among the three companions, and they follow their dreams of making nature films together. When an unforeseen accident take place, the two survivors must learn to love each other again. Monninger has homed in on the beauty and cruelty of the natural world in this gripping and moving story of loss and understanding. Readers who enjoyed the lushness of Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer (2000) will revel in Monninger's warm and graceful descriptions of rural New Hampshire and his adept understanding of the landscape of human relationships.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)