This Side of Paradise

by Steven L. Layne

Overview

When his father relocates the family to Paradise to work for the mysterious Eden Corporation, Jack Barrett uncovers a sinister plot that threatens everyone he loves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589802544
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/31/2005
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Named to the 2001 All-Teacher Team by USA Today 2001 Recipient of the Milken Family Foundation's National Award for Teaching Excellence Steven L. Layne serves as director of the master of education in literacy program at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, where he is also a professor of literacy education. He is a fifteen-year veteran of public education, serving as a classroom teacher and reading specialist for grades two through three and five through eight. A respected literacy consultant, motivational keynote speaker, and featured author, Layne works with large numbers of educators and children during school visits and at conferences held throughout the world each year. His work has been recognized with awards for outstanding contributions to the fields of educational research, teaching, and writing from organizations such as USA Today, the Milken Family Foundation, the Illinois Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Illinois Reading Council, and the International Reading Association. A prolific and talented writer, his young-adult thriller This Side of Paradise was the 2002 winner of the Hal Clement Award for Young Adults and the 2003-2004 Texas Lone Star Award. He is also the author of the International Reading Association/Children's Choice selections My Brother Dan's Delicious and The Teachers' Night Before Christmas, the latter of which is also a best-seller in Pelican's Night Before Christmas Series. Layne lives with his wife, Debbie, their four children, and an adorable Collie named Shelby in St. Charles, Illinois. For more information about the author, please visit his website, www.stevelayne.com

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up-High school junior Jack is happy running with his 72-year-old motorcycle-riding, roughhousing grandmother. He is less at ease with his demanding "corporate giant" father, Chip, for whom only the best will do. Mom has been drinking too much lately and his ninth-grade brother Troy is a wrestler who is "handsomer than all get-out." Trouble begins when Dad announces he is moving the family to Paradise, a company town built by his boss, the mysterious Adam Eden. Eden provides his employees with everything-beautifully landscaped and appointed houses, modern high-tech schools- in his carefully gated community. The boys are surprised that Mom is not there to make the move, but that's only one of the mysteries. What does it mean that nobody ever leaves Paradise? Why is everyone so stiff and cold? Who lays out their school uniforms each night and how is it that Grandma has an electric drill in her makeup bag when she needs it? The characterizations are zany, the plot is a straight-out Stepford wives takeoff. Turns out that Dad is psychotic; as split-personality Chip/Adam Eden he has murdered Mom and peopled his community with less-than-perfect clones and androids. When Troy's clone sacrifices himself for Troy, Chip/Adam exclaims, "Not my son! He's the one I chose. He's perfect!" There are too many weaknesses and absurdities in the plot to enjoy even the first half of the book as realistic fiction, and too many internal inconsistencies to enjoy it as horror/science fiction.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Paradise comes at a price in this taut SF thriller by newcomer Layne. High school junior Jack Barrett always knew that his father was a perfectionist, but it's been even worse since Dad started working for Eden Corporation. Now his mother drinks, his grandmother frets, and his rebellious younger brother Troy lives to annoy their father. When Dad insists on moving to the Eden-owned village of Paradise, where the homes are luxurious, the landscaping impeccable, and all the inhabitants serious, hard-working, and content, Jack soon suspects that there is something very wrong indeed. Why isn't Mom there to greet them? Where does Troy vanish in the middle of the night? And what mysterious power does Mr. Eden, the company's owner, hold over their father? Jack's a likable teenager, with an appealing self-deprecating tone, but the other characters are paper-thin. Cocky, iconoclastic Troy is less charismatic than arrogant; Gram, while sassy and resourceful, can also be irritatingly omniscient; and Jori, Jack's love interest, is simply too beautiful and spunky for belief. In fact, the entire plot is utterly preposterous-the secret of the village certainly won't surprise anyone who has read any of the myriad variations on its dystopic theme-but the breathless pace and tidy resolution of dangling ends partially compensate for its implausibility. If Layne has not created the subtle commentary on human progress that he aims for, he certainly has crafted an entertaining, suspenseful thriller with a genuinely chilling villain. Good fun. (Fiction. 12-15)

Kirkus Reviews