The Prince Who Fell from the Sky

April 1, 2012
A compassionate bear defies everything to save a boy from certain death in this original story blending creation myth with post-apocalyptic and animal-fantasy traditions. The Forest, where Casseomae hunts, forages and has given birth to several litters of stillborn cubs, is littered with relics of the humans, or Skinless Ones. Ages before, Skinless cut down the trees and nearly drove hunting animals, or voras, into extinction until the Ogeema (wolves) eradicated them. When a human starship crashes in the Forest, Casseomea discovers a human boy in the wreckage. Instinct compels her to save this cub who is "not so different from the ones she lost." Determined the new Skinless One will "upset the order of the Forest," the Ogeema pursue Casseomae, who flees with the boy. She is joined by Dumpster, a sassy, street-smart rat, and Pang, an outcast dog. Together they travel along overgrown highways, past abandoned power lines, gas stations and garbage dumps to ruined cities, seeking a safe haven. In contrast to the somewhat bleak social commentary, Casseomae's unwavering hope for the silent boy in her care never waivers. Appropriately, animal characters are fully developed and complex while the boy remains a pivotal unknown. Compelling animal fantasy grounded in ecological warnings. (Fantasy. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2012
Grades 4-7 The folklore staple of a human child raised by wild beasts gets a postapocalyptic twist in Bemis' novel. Humans, known as Skinless Ones, Old Devils, or Companionsdepending on who is speaking of themare supposedly extinct. Their cities are empty and the Forest is now controlled by vicious packs of wolves, who claim to have exterminated the humans, and who maintain a strict hierarchy in which formerly domestic pets are despised by the wild animals. When childless bear Casseomae rescues a boy cub, the sole survivor of a spaceship crash, she sets off to find a place where she can raise him in safety, away from the wolves and dogs who wish to claim him alternately as a sacrifice and a savior. This is a thoughtful fantasy, rich in characterization and drama, with a unique language that is simultaneously ancient and familiar. Bemis creates a believable reality in which all that is left of humanity is the oral tradition of rats (who lived among humans without befriending them)by passing on stories, the rats preserve the truth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)