The Other Side of the Island

Read The Other Side of the Island Online

Authors: Allegra Goodman

Tags: #Nature & the Natural World, #Social Issues, #Families, #Family, #Juvenile Fiction, #Individuality, #Fantasy & Magic, #Fiction, #Science Fiction, #Family Life, #Weather, #Peer Pressure, #Islands, #General, #Domestic fiction

Table of Contents
 
 
 
 
 
Praise for
ALLEGRA GOODMAN’S
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND
A BEST BOOK OF 2008!
LA Times The Washington Post The Village Voice
“A powerful success . . . Thought-provoking and alarmingly relevant.”—PW, Galley Talk
★
“Goodman’s fiction proves that she can tackle big subjects
with graceful and perceptive prose . . . a top-notch genre piece.”
—PW (Starred Review)
“A dark vision rendered in wonderful and imaginative
detail . . . likely to be read in one sitting.”—LA Times
“Gripping, beautifully written . . . A dystopian page-turner, The Other Side of the Island evokes other YA favorites—in particular, Lois Lowry’s The Giver—Goodman does a stellar
job . . . Bracing, exhilarating . . . Big Brother better watch out.”
—The Washington Post
“Gripping and creepily prescient.”—The Village Voice
“Chilling . . . A compelling science-fiction novel.”
—School Library Journal
“Fans of dystopic and speculative fiction will want to check this out—there’s certainly much material for discussion and debate.”—Horn Book Review
“A satisfying and compelling read.”
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“The simple prose, clear message and timely topic make this a solid introduction to the (dystopian) genre for middle-grade readers.”—Kirkus
“Offers readers plenty to consider.”—Booklist
“A chilling vision of the future, written with imagination and flair . . . exotic and surreal.”—Alan Lightman,
International Bestselling author of Einstein’s Dreams
The Other Side of the Island
RAZORBILL
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue,
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Copyright © 2008 Allegra Goodman
All rights reserved
 
 
eISBN : 978-1-101-05716-2
[1. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G61353Ot 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007050915
 
 
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For my children:
Ezra, Gabriel, Elijah, and Miranda
PART ONE
ONE
ALL THIS HAPPENED MANY YEARS AGO, BEFORE THE STREETS
were air-conditioned. Children played outside then, and in many places the sky was naturally blue. A girl moved to a town house in the Colonies on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea.
The girl was ten years old, small for her age but strong. Her eyes were gray. Her hair was curly to begin with, and it curled up even more in the humid island air. She had been born after the Flood in the eighth glorious year of Enclosure, and like everyone born that year, her name began with the letter H. Her name was rare, and in later cycles it was discontinued, but at that time it was still on the lists. She was called Honor.
The town house stood almost at the barriers near the beach. There was a downstairs with a living room and a tiny kitchen, and upstairs, a bathroom and two bedrooms, one big and one small. If you stood at the window in the smaller front bedroom, the ocean was frighteningly close, but there were protective bars on the windows.
Honor’s parents were young and clever, and they loved to laugh. Will and Pamela Greenspoon did not wear brown or tan like most people, but old-fashioned clothes in strange colors: peach and gray and even black. They were both engineers. They had nothing to put in their house because their trunks had not arrived yet from the North. Honor’s parents had no coupon books for the Central Store, because they had not yet started their new jobs. They had never been to the Colonies, and they didn’t know anyone on the island, but they told their daughter that was part of the adventure.
“That’s what you said last time,” Honor pointed out as she lay down to sleep on the bare floor with her father’s raincoat balled up for a pillow.
“We won’t move again for a while,” said Pamela.
“How long is a while?” Honor asked.
“We’ll see,” said Will.
“A year?”
“We’ll see.”
“Three years?”
“It’s late,” Pamela cut in. “You need to get your sleep. You’ve got the school interview tomorrow.”
Even though the Greenspoons had no furniture, they had taken Honor for testing at the famous Old Colony School.
 
The admissions tests for the Old Colony School took an entire day. There were tests in reading, copying, mathematics, science, and geography. If students did well enough on those tests, they were invited to interview. But interviews were not held at school. The interviewer came to the house to examine the whole family.
Before breakfast, Honor heard the knock on the door. Her parents were nervous because the house was so empty. They had borrowed folding chairs from the neighbors, but they worried that the interviewer would mark them down for lacking a proper couch.
Honor opened the door and saw a blue-eyed woman with soft curly hair under her sun hat. Her eyes were clear blue as marbles, her skin pale powdery white.
“Good morning. My name is Miss Blessing,” said the woman.
“Please come in,” said Pamela. “Come sit down.”
“Would you like something to drink?” asked Will when they were all seated. “We have cold guava juice.”
“No thank you,” said Miss Blessing. She didn’t look at Will and Pamela at all. She was looking straight at Honor. “Your test scores are excellent,” she told Honor. “I have a few simple questions for you today.”
Honor glanced at her father. He smiled at her encouragingly.
“Tell me the name of your old school,” Miss Blessing said.
“I didn’t go to school,” Honor said.
“Why don’t you tell me some of your favorite activities,” Miss Blessing said in a friendly way. Honor didn’t answer immediately, so Miss Blessing said, “Pottery, for example. Music, gardening, sewing . . .”
“Climbing trees,” Honor said.
“Oh, you’re interested in forests?” asked Miss Blessing, smiling. “Do you like to study trees?”
“No, I just like climbing them,” Honor said. At that time she still remembered the great trees in the Northern Islands, the oaks and pines, the white birches, the carpet of pine needles underfoot. She remembered weeping willows. She remembered lying for hours in the branches of the willow trees.
“Do you love the earth?”
Honor nodded.
“Who leads us and guides us?”
“Earth Mother,” Honor said.
“What are Her watchwords?”
“Peace, love, and joy.”
“And who guards the earth?”
“The Corporation.”
“Very good,” said Miss Blessing. Honor was happy because she thought she was done. “Please recite the Corporate Creed for me.”
“Our Councilors who are seven,” Honor began softly.
“A little louder,” said Miss Blessing. “Please speak clearly.”
“Our Councilors who are seven. Corporation is your name. Your plan to come, Enclosure done—on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day . . .” She hesitated. Her family was not religious. She did not recite her prayers every night. “Give us this day our daily bread. And correct all our trespasses. As you correct those who trespass against us.” She was stuck again. Anxiously she looked at her mother.
“And lead,” Pamela whispered.
“And lead us not into Inaccuracy, but deliver us from lies.” Honor recited fast, racing to get to the end. “For ours is the planet and the power and the glory. Amen.”
Miss Blessing said nothing. Then she said to Honor’s parents, “We ask our students to work without any hints or help.”
“I think Honor is a little nervous,” said Will.
“I’m afraid she is deficient,” murmured Miss Blessing. “What was Earth Mother’s Five-Year Plan?”
Honor hesitated. Miss Blessing was looking at the bare living room walls. “Where is your picture of Earth Mother?” she asked Will and Pamela.
“Our things haven’t arrived yet,” Will said.
“What did She achieve in the first Five-Year Plan?” Miss Blessing asked Honor.
Honor panicked. She tried to think, but she had no idea.
“She is enclosing the Earth,” Miss Blessing said quietly. Her face was gentle and pitying, as if she were saddened that a big girl of ten did not know. “She is making the world Safe and Secure. Isn’t that right?”
Honor nodded.
“May I speak with you alone for a moment?” Miss Blessing asked Honor’s parents.
“Go ahead upstairs,” Will told Honor.
Slowly, Honor climbed the staircase to the second floor. Then, when she was out of sight, she sat down on the top step to listen.
“She was terribly nervous,” Pamela was saying.
“She is terribly deficient,” said Miss Blessing. “She does not know what every little child should know. She would have catching up to do in her Earth and Weather classes.”
“If you gave us a book, then perhaps we could tutor her at home,” said Pamela.
“I think you’ve been tutoring her enough,” said Miss Blessing. “I’m afraid that’s the problem. Now, about her name.”

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