Gifts
Book 1 of Annals of the Western Shore
Language: English
Adolescence Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Science Fiction Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9) Fantasy Fantasy & Magic Fantasy fiction General Juvenile Fiction Leguin; Ursula - Prose & Criticism Prejudice & Racism Science Fiction; Fantasy; & Magic Science Fiction; Fantasy; Magic Social Issues Social Issues - Adolescence Social Issues - General Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism Social Themes Young adult fiction
Publisher: Harcourt
Published: Apr 2, 2006
Description:
Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability—with a glance, a gesture, a word—to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill.
In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light. **