Out of the Dark - Hardcover

Katz, Welwyn Wilton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689809476 ISBN 13: 9780689809477

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry, 1996

Synopsis

After the tragic loss of Ben Elliot's mother, his father moves him and his younger brother Keith to a tiny village on Newfoundland's isolated northern peninsula. Ben's father had been born and brought up there, but Ben hates it. He's had to leave his friends in the city, and he's determined not to like anything or anyone in the new place. The kids in the village resent his attitude, and dangerous tensions rise. The only thing that makes the place at all bearable for Ben is its nearness to the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, where he finds comfort in the ancient myths and sagas his mother had loved and shared with him. He revives his childhood game of imagining he is Tor, a young Viking shipbuilder. But as the Tor game grows increasingly real and harder to control, Ben discovers that the lines between past and present, and fantasy and reality, are beginning to blur, with frightening consequences. Seamlessly weaving Viking mythology and history with the present, this book is a deeply moving story about coming to terms with grief and forgiveness. It is Welwyn Wilton Katz's most emotionally powerful novel yet.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8?A thoughtful, affecting story about love, loss, pride, and understanding. Ben Elliot's nightmares come out of the dark following his mother's murder, but so do his soothing daydreams, which are based on the Norse sagas and legends he and his mother read together. He imagines himself to be Tor, master shipbuilder and part of the first Viking settlement in northern Newfoundland. With his father and brother, he has just moved from Ottawa to the poor and isolated fishing village where his father grew up. His brother is befriended by a group of local kids, but Ben is unable to make friends because of his own unhappiness. He retreats more and more into his daydreams until a final confrontation forces him to reevaluate the world around him as well as the world inside his head. Segments of Norse legends and paragraphs describing the lives and activities of the Viking settlers are italicized and slipped into the narrative whenever Ben slips into his daydreams. There are parallels for him and readers to discover between the encounters of the Viking settlers and the natives and Ben's own experiences with the Newfoundland locals, leading to the day when he learns that he can love and honor the past while appreciating the present. An author's note explains at length the archaeological, historical, and legendary basis of various parts of the story. The book's message about the interdependence of people in families, communities, and even chance encounters is an important one, skillfully related.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Katz (Come Like Shadows, 1993, etc.) mixes Viking mythology with the unlikely setting of a small coastal village in Newfoundland in this heartwarming tale about a family's struggle through grief. Ben, 13, his brother Keith, and their father move from Ottawa to Ship Cove after Ben's mother is murdered. Although Ben's father hopes the small town will nurture his sons' as well as his own spirits, village gossip, xenophobia, and even the local accent prove difficult for Ben to overcome. He turns to the hobby he shared with his mother--wood-carving--and builds a magnificent miniature Viking ship. Interspersed with scenes of Ben carving and avoiding the village boys are the myths of Viking adventure the family, as a group, had always enjoyed, and that continue to inspire Ben. When Ben's ship (named Frances, for his mother) sails, the brothers confront one another, ultimately forgiving each another and strengthening their bond. Katz's portrayal of the boys' relationship is dead-on accurate: Underneath the fights and name-calling there's the resilience of brotherly devotion. With the macho Viking tales and the emphasis on brotherhood, there may be a temptation to label this a book for boys, but few readers will not gain from this clear-eyed and encouraging tale of a family's love and survival. (Fiction. 11-14) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0689809476
• ISBN 13: 9780689809477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192