The Boy at the End of the World

From the Publisher

"Greg van Eekhout's The Boy at the End of the World is both moving and full of adventure. This remarkable survival story will change the way readers think about themselves and the world they live in." —Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief

"Greg van Eekhout's The Boy at the End of the World is wholly engaging and action packed. It is a compelling journey story filled with unusual friendships and a vision of the future that doesn't shy away from eco-heavy messages and themes as it plunges the reader ever forward toward a riveting, cinematic end." —Ingrid Law, Newbery Honor author of Savvy

"The characters are well developed and the moral dilemmas are sound. This is an excellent beginning for science fiction readers and the study of dystopian society. Recommended." — Library Media Connection

"The author of Kid vs. Squid (2010) repeats with another quirky, high-stakes adventure hung about with oddball ideas and life-threatening hazards... Van Eekhout moves his tale along briskly to a violent, suspenseful climax… A pleaser for readers who prefer their sf livened up with unpredictable elements and emotional complexity." —Booklist

"Part speculative fiction, part cinematic survival adventure, the novel features a brisk pace and clever and snappy dialogue. The real, scary possibility of human destruction of our own environment is tempered by this diverting tale of the possibilities of continued existence and the meaning of hope, friendship and community." —Kirkus Reviews

Children's Literature - Cara Chancellor

School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

A boy, a robot and a mammoth struggle to survive after the apocalypse.

Fisher "becomes born," as he thinks of it, out of a gel-filled pod in a destroyed Ark meant to preserve dozens of species along with human life after environmental cataclysm. He seems to have been endowed with a complete understanding of language and of his surroundings, and with, as he notes in awe, an awareness of hundreds of ways to catch fish: "I know all of them." He is accompanied by the somewhat damaged guardian robot Fisher christens Click and by a juvenile mammoth Fisher calls Protein (after deciding not to kill and eat the gentle giant...just yet). This trio makes its way across the North American continent in search of a second and finally a third Ark in order to help Fisher fulfill his mission of continuing the human species. Self-reinventing weaponry meant to defend each of the Arks leads to the destruction both of Fisher's birthplace and the Southern Ark, where an encounter with nano-technology is by turns hilarious and creepy. Part speculative fiction, part cinematic survival adventure, the novel features a brisk pace and clever and snappy dialogue.

The real, scary possibility of human destruction of our own environment is tempered by this diverting tale of the possibilities of continued existence and the meaning of hope, friendship and community. (Science fiction. 8-12)