tiny pink books

Empty World by John Christopher (pseudonym for Samuel Youd)
E.P. Dutton, 1978.

Empty World is another post-apocalyptic children’s novel by John Christopher.  Neil Miller is left orphaned as the lone survivor in a car accident that kills his entire family.  As he adjusts to his new life with his grandparents, a terrible plague sweeps the world, killing off just about the entire population.  Neil, who survives the plague, is left in an empty, silent world.  Neil deals with the everyday needs of survival as well as the loneliness of being alone in the world as he presses on, searching for other survivors.

Even before the plague sweeps through the plot, this is a bleak novel.  The orphaning of Neil, before the plague, is brutally sad.  As the plague becomes a major element in the story, the book becomes morbidly fascinating as Christopher describes, in crushing detail, the end of the world as we know it.  Everything–the plague, the decay, Neil’s emotional state, the will to survive–is described with fascinating realism throughout the book, making it a compelling and quick read.

I would recommend this book to tweens and younger teens looking for a quick read that is realistically dark and frightening.  Not for those seeking fantasy or action-based adventure, but I think readers who enjoyed books like Hatchet, or even The Giver, not to mention Christopher’s other novels, will find this book to be an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

The Pool of Fire by John Christopher (pseudonym for Samuel Youd)

While I can’t say that I was disappointed by this final chapter to the Tripods Trilogy, I have to admit that was just slightly below the first and second books in the series (The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead, respectively).  The story takes off from where we were left, at the end of The City of Gold and Lead-In a world where alien Masters control all of mankind through strange, mandatory metal caps, only one small group of free men survive, hidden in a remote camp.  Will, our story’s hero, has escaped the city of the alien Masters and has returned to the last surviving free men to report back everything he has learned, most importantly the deadly plan of the Masters to covert the Earth’s air into a breathable atmosphere for themselves, killing every other living creature on earth.  Now, humans are forced to take action and strike down the Masters before it is too late.

While I assure readers that Christopher delivers another action packed, adventurous book, it is noted that The Pool of Fire is slightly off pace; it begins to feel episodic, with periods of thrill followed by periods of drag, towards the end.  Of course, maybe this isn’t fair to Christopher-he had to wrap up the epic struggle that he created and he does so with a satisfying conclusion.  Even with the pacing issues of the final book, I am still thoroughly satisfied with the trilogy as a whole.  I would recommend the trilogy to children and tweens seeking an adventure or science fiction series.  One thing that I liked a lot about this series is the fact that it has a wide appeal due to its action packed plot that plays nicely with its more thoughtful elements that contemplate concepts of humanity and freedom.

The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher (pseudonym for Samuel Youd)

The second book of the Tripods Trilogy, The City of Gold and Lead continues the science fiction adventure that began with The White Mountains.  The world has been taken over by aliens who rule in large, three-legged machines.  Humans are controlled by metal caps, which are melded to their skulls at the age of 14.  Will, the main character, is a young man who is part of a small group of free men, who have escaped the capping process and live secretly in the mountains.  In The City of Gold and Lead, Will and another boy are sent to be slaves in the city of the alien “Masters,” as they call themselves, to gather information and report back.  The dangerous journey provides a frightening look at the dark reality that the Masters have created for the humans.

Much like The White Mountains, I found this book to be an exciting and engaging read.  The plot is adventurous and fast paced, but the themes of humanity and freedom are still just as evident, making this book stand as something that is filled with thrilling adventure and a thought provoking depth.  The biggest difference in The City of Gold and Lead is that it is much more rooted in the science fiction genre than The White Mountains was.  We learn much more about the alien Masters, their city, and their technologies in this book, although Christopher manages to inject enough plot movement to make sure that it never becomes too slow.

Recommended for children and tween readers who enjoyed The White Mountains.  Those who enjoy adventurous page turners, especially boys, will enjoy these timeless thrillers.  I also think that, although this is a children’s book, the combination of action and depth makes this an enjoyable read for teens and adults who are open to reading younger people’s literature.

The White Mountains by John Christopher (pseudonym for Samuel Youd)

The White Mountains is the first of a classic children’s science fiction trilogy that was first published in the 1960’s.  In The White Mountains, humans live quaint and old fashioned lives in the shadows of the Tripods, large, mechanical beings who rule above humans.  Will, age 13, realizes that he does not want a part in the capping process, a creepy and ceremonial event that is required for all villagers at the age of 14.  He realizes that those who have been capped obey the Tripods without question.  Fueling his distrust of the capping process, Will meets a stranger who tells him that they are men in the world who live without being capped.  The stranger gives Will a map and Will leaves the village with his cousin Henry on a dangerous journey in search of place where they can grow to be free thinking men.

Although quite simple in terms of action, it’s hard to sum up the plot of The White Mountains with much justice because the Christopher’s world is full of subtly dark elements. The Tripods, familiar aliens to any classic science fiction reader (or watcher, for that matter!), have a creepy hint of cruelty that adds to all the excitement of this book.  The subservient nature of the capped humans is intriguing as well.  On top of that, the quest/journey nature of the plot makes it hard to put down. 

There’s a lot of books to compare The White Mountains to:  War of the Worlds (the book, not the radio play) and The Giver are the two that jump out the most for me.  The White Mountains successfully manages to be both a science fiction book and a book that’s appropriate for children and tweens without doing a disservice to either.  It’s exciting and it’s dark, yet it’s also relatively tame in terms of violence and fight factor and its written with a clear and concise use of language to boot!  Recommended for older children and tweens, especially boys, who want an exciting adventure book, a book about human free will (like The Giver), or both!