The Farm That Ran Out Of Names

The Farm That Ran Out Of Names

Grade 4-6-- Within the structure of this slight but humorous fantasy, Mayne has created a plot that makes a statement about man's needs and his environment, laced with traces of a Loch Ness monster-like creature, all tidily told within the framework of an Old Testament story. Owen Tudor, his family, and an assortment of neighbors live in a valley untouched by today's technologies. Then men begin to survey and measure the land, revealing that a dam will be built there to supply water to the city of Birmingham, for which the landowners will have money deposited in the bank as payment. Anxious, distressed Owen comes up with a secretive plan to stay in the valley on the duckpond; he builds an ark and lives on it with with his family and their animals. The Tudors struggle with incredible seasickness during a severe storm; as the wind and water batter the ark, it is forced toward a high cliff, when miraculously a wave and the wind lift the ark onto land--near a very desirable farm with a "For Sale" sign. Readers will cheer for Owen as he tries to outwit the Birmingham Water Board, but the unfamiliar Welsh names and words may prevent them from becoming absorbed in the story.
- Lydia Champlin, Beachwood City Schools, OH
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.