Finder: Talisman, by Carla Speed McNeil. Lightspeed Press, Annapolis Junction, MD, 2002. 0-9673691-3-4.

Summary: In a future world where few people read, a girl struggles to recapture the magic of a childhood book through writing.

Analysis: Any way you try to summarize the plot, it sounds like a cheap Neverending Story clone, but it completely isn't. It captures the magic of reading and storytelling in an unusual combination of grit and innocence. As Marcie reads, the quotes we see are often from actual books, cited in notes at the back, which decidedly make you want to go find the rest of the stories she's reading. There are more stories set in this world, and I'm unclear if this is the sort of story where you're expected to fill in worldbuilding details or if more would be obvious if I'd read any of the rest of them first. Either way, there are enough details in the text and endnotes that it works just fine as a standalone.

Illustrations: Pen-and-ink, fairly realistic style.

Rating: 5Q/4P (This book will be *very* popular with the people who like it, but it's odd enough that it will have a narrower range of popularity than some books.)

Curricular Connections: 10-12th grade language arts class, particularly for a creative writing unit. 

-- SLH