| Children's |
| Action & Adventure |
Summary
Summary
On the last morning of fifth grade, Sam Culver loses his favorite word. Then, right after that, two more words disappear ...
No matter how much trouble Sam gets in, he knows that he can always rely on his magic word, "sorry," to get him out of a pinch. Teasing his little sister too much? "Sorry!" Hurt someone's feelings in class? "Sorry!" But when a group of
goblins comes and steals his "sorry," he's in more trouble than ever.
To get his word back, Sam chases the goblins through a portal. On the other side, he meets Tolver, a young goblin who's always dreamed of adventure. Tolver wants to cast off the goblins' old ways and explore the world, but his grandma
warns him of the untrustworthy goblin prospectors who rule the skies with their fancy technology.
When Sam and Tolver are captured by prospectors, they'll have to work together to find the depository of stolen words and outsmart their captors--and do it all before Sam's parents ground him forever!
Author Notes
Fran Wilde was born in 1973 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a BA in English with Honors, Warren Wilson College with a MFA in poetry, and the University of Baltimore with a Masters in Information Architecture and Interior Design.
Her previous jobs included a sailing instructor, Jewel's assistant, teacher, professor, and web and game developer. She writes for the blog GeekMom and runs the blog and podcast for Cooking the Books.
She writes short stories and novels. Some of her short stories include Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Ghost Tide Chantey on Tor.com, You are Two Point Three Meters from Your Destination, published in Uncanny, and How to Walk through Historic Graveyards in the Digital Age, published in Asimov's Science Fiction. Her novel Updraft (2015) won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (2016). Her other novel is Cloudbound (2016).
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wilde (Riverland) explores the meaning of words, intent, and sincerity in a quickly paced portal fantasy that's both imaginative and thoughtful. When a chance encounter with a word-stealing goblin renders 11-and-a-half-year-old Sam Culver, cued as white, incapable of apologizing, he begins to understand language's power. While he's always used "sorry" as an insincere get-out-of-trouble card, he finds himself in hot water when he can't say it for real to his best friend, brown-skinned Mason, after hurting her feelings at school. His attempts to recover the missing phrase lead him through a portal into the marshlands, where carelessly used and misplaced words mined from Earth are used for myriad purposes, including technological advancement and industrialization. Now Sam must work with Tolver, the goblin who took his regrets, to stop a ruthless cabal of word prospectors before they swipe every empty utterance from his home. Sam's attempts to repair his friendship with Mason, bond with five-year-old sister Bella, and learn to trust Tolver emphasize friends and family, while Wilde's depiction of the marshlands' struggle with ethical sustainability presents a fascinating setting worth further development. A great tale for any word-loving adventure seeker. Ages 8--12. Agent: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger Literary. (June)
Kirkus Review
Sam finds that words really do matter in Mount Cloud. After a strange encounter with an old lady and her pet pig, Sam loses the ability to say sorry. When he upsets his best friend, Mason, with an unkind remark during class, the school expects him to apologize--but he cannot, even though sorry was a word he used quite freely whenever anything went wrong. To get his word back and get himself out of trouble, Sam embarks on an adventure into the world of goblins. Goblin word thieves Tolver and his grandmother, however, have their own reasons for stealing people's words. This fantasy world is wonderfully built in a fashion reminiscent of Paul Stewart's The Edge Chronicles. The concept of the useless or disbelieving adult is thoroughly subverted, with adults not only believing, but helping Sam. Family and friends are key to the characters' development, serving as catalysts for change and as valuable supports. The plot itself is sure to comfort young readers struggling with literacy, language acquisition, or impulsive speech, with its message that misusing words is an important part of learning. Twists and turns will keep readers engaged and thinking about the text long after they have finished reading. Main characters default to White. Delightful and sure to keep readers looking for goblins long after the final page has been turned. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Like all humans, Sam is occasionally thoughtless or clumsy. Luckily, he's discovered that throwing a "sorry!" at the offended party seems to make things better. But after an odd encounter with a wizened old woman, Sam finds that his magic word is missing. No sorry, no apologize--he can't form or even write the words. When a bewildered Sam discovers that his overused words were stolen by well-intentioned goblins for conversion into hot air to power their machines and ships, he agrees to help a young goblin, Tolver, and his grandmother in exchange for his words back, and soon Sam and Tolver find themselves in a predicament that spans both the human and goblin worlds, threatening to irrevocably alter them both. The basic premise--overused words equaling hot air--is clever, and it's astonishing how creatively the simple idea is expanded. Wilde's writing is quick and playful, the adults refreshingly helpful, and it's a pleasure to tag along on the goblin and human adventures. A terrific tribute to the power of words.
