Journey Between Worlds by Sylvia Louise Louise Engdahl, James McCrea (Illustrator), Ruth McCrea (Illustrator), Ruth McCrea (Designed by), James McCrea (Designed by)
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(Hardcover)
- Age Range: Young Adult
- Pub. Date: May 2006
- 240pp
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: May 2006
- Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
- Format: Hardcover, 240pp
- Age Range: Young Adult
- ISBN-13: 9780399245329
- ISBN: 0399245324
Synopsis
Eighteen-year-old Melinda Ashley never wanted to go to Mars. she had her life all planned out—marry ross and become a teacher. but when her estranged father convinces her to take an interplanetary vacation, she finds herself tempted to leave behind her comfortable existence on earth. Mars isn’t at all what she expected, and when she meets Alex preston, a second-generation Martian colonist, she finds herself on a surprising new path. sylvia engdahl’s classic novel has been revised and updated by the author to reflect new discoveries and research about Mars.
Children's Literature
Melinda does not want to travel to Mars but her father is ecstatic and convinced this is a perfect graduation presen—plus his business wants to open a branch there. Melinda would be content to live in her grandmother's house on the beach, marry her high school sweetheart, and raise children the old fashioned way. She will endure this trip for her father but return to Earth and a normal existence within a year. On the voyage to Mars she meets Alex, who was born on Mars and is returning after a year of college on Earth. He wants her to see that it is more than a scientific experiment. She is bound and determined to find it a miserable place to live, and insists that the colonists are provincial, and New Terra is a waste of valuable funds. To pass the time, she takes college courses, socializes with her father's colleagues and Alex's family, and aides in the high school. In the end, due to her love of Alex, she stays on Mars and comes to appreciate it for what it is. Inconsistencies between the actions and the emotions that are expressed, make the characters shallow and unrealistic. Alex says Melinda is brave, but she is afraid to venture outside the air-sealed domes, don a space suit, or fully experience what it means to live on Mars. Instead of learning to get along, settling new territory is the author's solution to overcrowding, pollution, and wars on Earth.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Sylvia Engdahl lives in Eugene, Oregon.
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Journey Between Worldsby Anonymous
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April 25, 2006: What would it be like to live in the future where space travel is not just something people dream about but something they actually do? Melinda Ashley is graduating from high school and has her future all planned out. First a year at the University, then get married to Ross, then finish her education and become a history teacher. But first she is going to spend the summer traveling with her father who she has only seen on holidays since her mother's died when Melinda was nine. When her father arrives for graduation, the surprise destination for their trip is Mars. Melinda is less than pleased. Her dad is going on business for his company and he wants her to go. His company will pay for her ticket. When Mel tells Ross, her unofficial fianc?, about the trip they have their first fight and Mel decides to go in spite of him and because she has spent so little time with her father over the years. Seven days later Melinda and her dad are under way. On board the Susan Constant space liner, Mel's cabin mate, Janet Crane, is a biologist who is going to spend a year on Mars to get her doctorate, Janet also thinks that going to Mars is a waste of time. Not a good start for the year. Before boarding Mel and her father had met Alex Preston, who is returning to Mars after a year of studying on earth. Alex as well as Mel's father believe that space is the new frontier. Melinda spends the year being pulled in two different directions and then fate plays it's hand. Sylvia Louise Engdahl's futuristic romance is truly out of this world, her imagination remarkably accurate. An excellent book for teen and mature reader alike!
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