The Extraordinary Colors of Auden Dare is such an interesting book. The concept behind it was so fascinating to me. Auden Dare a child who cannot see color in a world with no rain. Just think about that concept for a while. Isn’t it an intriguing one? I am SO GLAD that Raincoast Books sent me this book to review.
I finished reading this book last night and told my lad this morning “you will like this book if you do not get hung up on the details”. He snorted! He’s heard me talking about this book a few times, mentioning how much I’ve been enjoying it but lack of details about some aspects of the world, made the world seem a bit unbelievable. I had to make a conscious decision to not let my question make me frustrated with the story. I explained to my lad that sometimes when you are reading a story, you have to make a choice to read for the story and not for the setting details. It’s a hard one for him eh? He’s very detail focused so if the facts don’t compute he can get lost in those details. I am hopeful he can read for the story as I really think he’ll enjoy it.
Letting the intrigue of not being able to see colour and what that would mean to a child who doesn’t know of anyone else so inflicted. That thought just grabbed hold of me eh? Can you imagine how lonely that might make a person feel? How different and isolating it could be? And then how important it would be then to have a friend? These factors play a vital role in how the story of Auden Dare unfolds.
Now imagine living in a world with no rain, imagine what that might possibly look like? Imagine what the global response might be. What might be good about living in a desert or living on an island? What would happen with the price of water or the items that require water for growth? Some of the details here are a touch sketchy, or not explained as well as I would like. BUT the person results of not having water at the ready where well defined and helped add good colour to the story line.
The story itself revolves around Middle Schoolers Auden and Vivi along with a robot named Paragon. I’m loathe to give away any spoilers, but I will tell you that Paragon is a rather unique robot and the middle schoolers have a number of interesting adventures with him. The sarcasm in this book will make my lad grin (I’m sure of it). 🙂 There is a mystery to be solved, can they solve it? (read the book to find out).
The Extraordinary Colors of Auden Dare
Zillah Bethell
Feiwel and Friends
Soft cover, 352 pages, 9-12 years
Fiction, Sci-Fiction, water, disability, Special needs
Reviewed for Raincoast books
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