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Fantasy. Juvenile Fiction. Folklore. Hab�a una vez . . . There lived a girl named Petra Pe�a, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children � among them Petra and her family � have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet � and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard � or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again? Pura Belpr� Honor-winning author Donna Barba Higuera presents us with a brilliant journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us human.… (more)
User reviews
This was an excellent read, and I'm so glad that its Newbery win put it on my radar. Petra was a great character, and I enjoyed watching her story unfold as she puts together what's happening on the ship and what she's going to do about it. It's a celebration of the importance of stories in processing our world, and hoping for a better future.
I'll try to break down my biggest criticisms with some small spoilers but no major ones:
1. The Collective: They
2. The nonsense science: Oh my goodness, where to start? Downloading all the Wikipedia facts about botany into your brain does not a scientist make. That's not how learning works; you have to practice using the facts to make anything of that knowledge. Even if we accept that Petra is a brilliant scientist because she knows facts, it's absurd to invent the things they invent and create enough of it for even one small part of a planet in a matter of hours or days. The most absurd is the plan to kill all the plants in the settlement zone and assume that the native animals will survive. The book is full of botanists and no one considers basic ecology?? Real-life current Earth is losing native insects and birds at a prodigious rate because we plant non-native flowers in our gardens. Y'all think you can wipe out the plant life that evolved for this planet, introduce plants humans like, and keep the planet a paradise? That kind of thinking is at least as dangerous as the Collective's, but it's never even addressed.
3. Relatedly, the Occam's Razor of it all: I kept finding myself asking why anyone was doing the things they were doing. Why can't the Collective just make their own scientists? Why do they need the Zetas at all? There's hundreds of Collective people, and they have enough genetic engineering expertise to make their bodies barely recognizable as humans, yet they can't mix Dawn soap and vinegar together to kill a plant? If the goal is a pure society where everyone is the same, why bother with the messiness of a natural planet at all? Why not just stay on the ship? We're given no indication that ship life isn't sustainable. Why do the Collective people have names -- uniqueness! -- but the Zetas have numbers? How did the Collective maintain their ideology over generations with no culture shift? The world-building logic is, frankly, half-assed at best.
4. The "big reveals": every one was totally obvious if you've read a book before, and usually facilitated by Petra hiding behind a convenient door and saying "for the good of the Collective" a lot to get out of sticky situations.
5. The "tell don't show" writing felt like dropping a hammer on my head. Just to pick a random example, since there's something like this on almost every other page (the character in this passage is named for the shark, but it's so appropriate): "Hammerhead continues. 'Without the Collective, there would only be war and famine. Our unity and agreement on all things ensures we will never return to the ways of conflict....' How would he know? He's never been to a museum and seen art.... And suddenly, after all this time, I truly understand what the word dogma means." Gah, WE GET IT. That was page 165, we got it a long time ago!
Overall it felt like a book written by someone who had never read science fiction or thought about science, but wanted to use the trappings of the genre to put characters in a position to tell us that stories and memory are important. I would have been much more okay with a lot of this if it had leaned into the cuentos woven through the main story as magical realist elements. Petra's connection to stories through Lita and her ancestors was the best part of the book (and the reason for my second star), and I was SO primed to find it beautiful and powerful, but it needed a different context. Once you have your characters spend a lot of time in botany labs and stasis pods and doing genetic engineering, you have signaled that you intend to ground the story in science and world-building. Why do that if you're not invested in telling that part of your story well?
Petra Pena leaves Earth with her parents and brother to travel to a new planet. Her scientist parents help create a sustainable plan for most of the new inhabitants to be in stasis for 300 years. Some people will take care of all of the people in stasis, never
Petra hears enough to know how to answer questions so that no one knows that she remembers everything. She becomes the only person who remembers Earth. The Collective have re-programmed everyone to believe that the humans of Earth ruined everything for mankind, and now the Collective is creating a better society. Petra, renamed Zeta 1, works with the other Zetas to analyze the flora and fauna of Sagan. Can the Collective live here? They've never been outside the ship, so the humans of Earth are the ones who descend to find out if the planet is liveable. Petra determines to get away from the Collective and save the Zetas. Petra listened to all of the stories her Grandmother told her about Mexican folklore. Petra befriends the Zetas and a few others with her stories. The stories of Earth are lost if anything happens to Petra, for she is the last storyteller.
As the novel progresses, the tension builds as we worry Petra will be discovered and re-programmed. We also worry that the planet isn't inhabitable. Petra possesses great courage and intelligence. She also knows that a ship left before them and wonders if she can find them--hoping they haven't been affected by the Collective. It's a stressful ride with Petra as you see if humanity can survive.
Earth is hit by a comet and only a small segment of the population is saved in order to colonize a new planet many centuries in the future. How the original grand plan unravels and is corrupted is seen
Several hundred years
Her group of people, set up to be guinea pigs to explore the planet, are a group of kids to whom Petra feels affinity and wants to help escape from the Collective.
Scifi, storytelling, family, and friendship in this intergalactic tale.
It was pretty thought-provoking as a middle grade science fiction.
But when Petra is awakened out of stasis, hundreds of years after the Earth has been destroyed, she discovers that an evil group known as the Collective has taken over the ship and purged everyone’s memory of Earth. Only Petra remembers. She alone carries the stories of our past, and with them, the hope for our future.
What I liked: great plot and premise, semi reminiscent of The Giver. I love how the author interweaves stories from her grandmother into the character’s present circumstances. The book is beautifully written and has a great message of the importance of the stories of our past to our future.
What I didn’t like: for me, the book dragged on through the middle. The beginning and ending were great, but I got a little antsy for the story to move forward toward the middle. I am glad I stuck it out, the ending was great!
4 out of 5 stars
And a run for the stars as the world crumbles around the characters.
And that’s just the beginning.
Seriously, this is a fabulous story that makes me think about the
Hope, and a way forward through the darkness. I think that’s woven into all the best stories.
If you like science fiction for young people, I’d strongly recommend reading this one.