Darkwing (Silverwing, 1)

Oppel, Kenneth

ISBN 10: 0060850558 ISBN 13: 9780060850555

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007

Synopsis

As the sun sets on the time of the dinosaurs, a new world is left in its wake. . . .

Dusk

He alone can fly and see in the dark, in a colony where being different means being shunned—or worse. As the leader's son, he is protected, but does his future lie among his kin?

Carnassial

He has the true instincts of a predator, and he is determined that his kind will not only survive but will dominate the world of beasts.

From the author of the internationally acclaimed Silverwing trilogy comes an extraordinary adventure set 65 million years ago. Kenneth Oppel, winner of a Michael L. Printz Honor for Airborn, has crafted a breathtaking animal tale that reaches out to the human in all of us.

About this title

About the Author:

Kenneth Oppel is the author of Skybreaker and Airborn (winner of the Governor General’s Award), as well as the Silverwing Saga (Silverwing, Sunwing and Firewing), which has sold over one million copies worldwide and has won numerous prizes, including the Mr. Christie’s Book Award and the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award, as well as many children’s choice awards across the country. His other titles include Peg and the Whale, Dead Water Zone and The Live-Forever Machine. Voted children’s author of the year by Canadian booksellers in 2006, he lives in Toronto with his wife and three children. You can find him online at kennethoppel.ca and on Twitter at @kennethoppel.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5–8—The story of Darkwing is set 65 million years ago, during the early Paleocene era just years after the enormous C-T dieback event. Dusk and his family are chiropters, small arboreal mammals that glide and feed on insects. Changes are coming to their world, and not the least of them are Dusk's abilities of flight and echolocation. Although his family stands by him, most of the colony is very uncomfortable with his flying, fearing reprisal from the birds that live above them in the trees. All concerns about Dusk's oddities or their avian neighbors are swept aside when an outcast prowl of felids, led by the bloodthirsty Carnassial, attack the colony and Dusk's special abilities help to guide his fellows and keep them safe. During their search for a new home, his quick wits are all that stand between the colony and disaster. In their quest, the chiropters encounter deadly predators, from saurian holdouts to shrewlike soricids with poisonous saliva. Betrayals from both within the colony and without add to the excitement in this adventure. Readers will feel for Dusk as he decides repeatedly not to abandon his colony, despite their treatment of him. In Darkwing, Oppel offers a celebration of difference in addition to a wonderful imagining of a pivotal moment in evolution. An author's note highlights some of the actual fossil species that appear. One cautionary note—the descriptions of animals eating each other may be disturbing to sensitive readers.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060850558
• ISBN 13: 9780060850555
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 432
• Illustrator: Thompson Keith