If the girls are going to do book reports this summer, I can do them too! Here’s one on my first book of summer reading, following the same format the girls use.
Title: Children of Time
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Pages: 609 pages
Setting: A few thousand years in the future, after humankind has fought itself to the point of destroying the Earth and the remains of the human race have fled to other planets.
Characters: Avrana Kern is a brilliant scientist leading an expedition to create a new planet that can be home for humanity. Portia is a brave warrior and explorer on the planet. Bianca is a wise and courageous scientist. Holsten is a historian trying to help everyone avoid the mistakes of the past. Lain is an engineer who understands the technology better than anyone else.
Main events: Dr. Kern and her team travel far away from earth to try and transform a planet so it can be habitable by humans. A remnant of humanity’s instinct for conflict causes something to go wrong. A few thousand years later, another group of people finds the planet. Meanwhile, on the surface, a new society is forming.
Problem/Conflict: Two groups want to live on this planet, which is the only one any of them could live on. They have great difficulty communicating with each other. Who will survive?
Conclusion/Resolution: The two groups find a way to communicate, but only after fighting, and realize they share the same goals and principles. They set out to live together on the planet.
Favorite part: I most enjoyed all technology and exciting capabilities in the story. Each was a bit fantastical (humans able to hibernate for 1000 years? near light speed travel?), but just credible enough to seem possible. Dreams of new technology are always inspirational to me.