Will our Earth head in this direction?

Spark

Author: Mitchell Johnson

Published by: Orion Children’s Books @orionbooks

Published on: 3rd February 2022

Price: £7.99

ISBN: 978 1510107632

First line: The children stood at the water’s edge, clutching stones they itched to throw.

Genre: Adventure, coming of age, friendship, quest.

Age: 9+

What’s it all about? A young orphan boy, Ash, grows up in one of the few villages left on Earth, under the protection of the village’s Priestess. His mother is dead and his father missing (after abandoning his lookout post). There is precious little water to share between them and the Ancestors control the fate of those who are left. Ash must strike out on his own to find out where all the water has gone and why it has disappeared. Is it the gods, or is there something else more sinister at play? Apparently, there is life in a place to the North, but can he make it across the scarred and deserted landscape in-between?

Why should I read it? Having only previously read Mitch Johnson’s ‘Pop’ just a few months ago, I am quite pleased to have the opportunity to read another of this author’s books. Each book is a stand out story of great creative and imaginative powers, beautifully written and crafted. I had no surprises here. The characters are beautifully composed and believable. You fight and cry with Ash in his numerous adventures. The world is a scary place and who you can trust is not easy to know, and that’s exactly what happens here. I like how Ash’s character changes over the course of the story as he starts to believe more in what he can see around him, rather than his ancestors and what he has been told to believe. Ash reminds me a lot of the story of Moses and how he led the hebrews to safety by parting the sea. The story has a great link to the current environmental crisis and Mitch’s author comment at the end of the story explains a lot more about the origins of the story. A lot of the themes within the book would link brilliantly to lessons in KS2 classrooms from PSHE to English or Geography.