Saturday, November 17, 2012

Kernel's Library: The League of Super Gifted Children

The Silver Child by Cliff McNish Book 00052: The Silver Child by Cliff McNish

Title:
- The Silver Child

First Publication:
- 1 August 2003 by Orion Children's Books


Trivia:
- Cliff McNish's books are notable for their use of bizarre, intense imagery.

Awards as an Author:
- 2007 Salford Children's Book Award, Breathe
- 2007 Calderdale Children's Book of the Year Awar, Breathe




Whew! This book was a great read. McNish's Silver Sequence had a very unique concept that only a person with intense imagination could create. Who would ever populate a story where only children had the power to save the world from destruction? Where each chosen children would then acquire great and herculean powers of the unusual kind -- earth digging drills, gentle giant, a child made of silver, freak agility, mental telepathy and a lot more. After I read the series -- or this book in particular -- I was left mesmerized and awed. And all that was left of me was the want for more.

Being the first book of The Silver Sequence, The Silver Child opens the story of a group of six children, who are destined to save the world. An inexplicable force is drawing them together to a place they have never been before... A place where there was nothing much really, except a deserted and windswept wasteland spawning with healthy rats and seagulls... A place locals commonly refer to as Coldharbour.

Despite it's being unlikely to be lived in, many dangerous gang kids are migrating into this land. There, the six main characters find each other, relying for each other's support and protection. There was no food nor shelter, but they must find ways to survive. One by one, they started to develop freakish power, a power that they most certainly need if they are to protect the world against an intergalactic creature called the Roar.


Synopsis:

Six children leave the comfort of their homes far behind. They are drawn to Coldharbour, an eerie wasteland of wind, rats, seagulls and rubbish tips.

Emily and Freda, the twins, scuttle bright-eyed and insect-like in search of the others. They find Thomas half-starving on a food tip. They discover the giant boy, Walter, his hands buried in the ashes of a fire. Helen, who can read minds, reaches Coldharbour at the height of a storm to join them. And at the centre of it all is the luminous Milo, whose eyes see everything and whose skin is hot and bright with silver.

Each of them has a unique gift, but they must learn to use their skills fast. Drawing ever close in a maelstrom of fury is something vast and dreadful that wants to destroy them all.

Grade: A-

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