FIRST LIGHT
by Rebecca Stead
With the impending threat of global warning as an ominous backdrop, teens from very different worlds find they have much in common. Twelve-year-old Peter and his parents leave Manhattan on a scientific expedition to Greenland where Peter’s father and his assistant will study the effects of global warming. After settling into the frozen world, Peter senses his parents share a secret, while he experiences migraines with strange visual effects. Meanwhile, below Greenland’s surface, 14-year-old Thea lives in Gracehope, an amazing underground colony settled generations before by a persecuted group of people from England. Descended from Gracehope’s original founder, Thea is convinced the future of her people lies above the ground. While Peter’s visions draw him toward Gracehope, Thea’s convictions draw her toward the light. As Peter struggles to figure out his parents’ secret, Thea grapples with secrets in her own family. Alternating between Peter and Thea’s stories, this compelling contemporary ice-age mystery introduces two engaging characters whose personal courage is tested as they discover one another’s worlds as well as the truth about themselves. Thoroughly enjoyable arctic adventure. (Fiction. 9-12)