In Honor of St. Patricks Day, MMGM Highlights An Irish Author

Kate Thompson is one of the most exciting authors writing for young people today for she is a born storyteller, is highly original and thought-provoking in her ideas. She has travelled widely in the USA and India and studied law in London. After living in County Clare, she moved to Kinvara in County Galway and there, three years ago, she discovered her passion for playing the fiddle. She is now an accomplished player and also has a great interest in restoring instruments. Kate Thompson has won the Children’s Books Ireland Bisto Book of the Year award three times – in 2002 for The Beguilers, in 2003 for The Alchemist’s Apprentice and in 2004 for Annan Water. The New Policeman won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Book Award Children’s category in 2005. —Love Reading 4 Kids    Author Website        

    Since several of my children enjoyed the Animorphs books I chose to read the first book in the Switchers series. She has several highly regarded books and series and if you haven't read anything by her, I suggest taking a look at this impressive list of books here.

About The Book:Tess is a switcher—she can take on the form of any animal she chooses. But she must be alone, as is true of all Switchers. Soon she realizes that Kevin is also a Switcher who has been summoned to save the Northern Hemisphere from being destroyed. And Kevin needs Tess's help to do it.
First Line: The bus seemed to take hours to crawl through the Dublin traffic.
What Other's Are Saying:  "Thompson interweaves elements from mythology and science fiction with insights into animal nature to create a coming-of-age fantasy that, like Peter Pan, ends with an open window and, for many readers, a lump in the throat." Publishers Weekly

"Tess and Kevin have the ability to switch from human form into any animal they choose, real or imaginary. What better way to save the world than as a polar bear, a woolly mammoth, or, better yet, a fire-breathing dragon! Even those who cannot easily suspend disbelief will care about the characters from the very first page and tremble when they are in trouble, and feel exalted when they triumph in the end." —School Library Journal

Bloggers Weigh In:
Lynnette Ferreira
Nickcrit: A Writers Review
Ms. Yingling Reads

What I Thought: What I found most enjoyable is how well Thompson translated the actions, senses and possible thoughts of the animals that Tess and Kevin changed to. Her characters have real depth and you want to know what is going to happen next. Lizzie, an eccentric old woman often shares wisdom from her own life, "We thinks we has all the time in the world when we's young. And sometimes we doesn't push ourselves hare enough." One of my favorite lines was when Kevin is telling Tess that he is going head out towards the North, he says,"...sometimes we don't know what we can do until we have to do it. And we always stick with what's easy and what's safe..." I highly recommend this series.