Heartlight

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
T. A. Barron's debut novel, Heartlight, originally published in 1990, has become a staple of middle school reading lists. The science adventure fantasy focuses on a young girl named Kate and her grandfather, who is a famous scientist. Kate is struggling to find her identity -- her parents recently moved to a new house and, in her new school, Kate is having trouble fitting in. The only real friend she has is her grandfather, who lives just a few houses away.

Every day after school, Kate goes to her grandfather's house, where she spends time with him when he's not busy in his laboratory. His current top-secret project is creating PCL (Pure Concentrated Light), a magical substance that has the power to liberate a person's "heartlight" so that they can travel anywhere in space. When he discovers that the sun is days away from losing all its power, Kate and her grandfather use their heartlight to travel to a distant star in a desperate quest to save the world.

Heartlight, the first book in Barron's Heartlight trilogy (which includes The Ancient One and The Merlin Effect) is a perfect book for teenagers interested in fantasy and/or spirituality. The story is reminiscent of young adult classics like Lois Lowry's The Giver and Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting. And although the subject of death and dying can be a somber one, the overall theme of this book is uplifting. In the words of Kate's grandfather: "I believe that every living thing has a time to die, as well as a time to be born￯﾿ﾽ The important thing is that they flowered beautifully while they were alive." Paul Goat Allen

ANNOTATION

Kate and her grandfather use one of his inventions to travel faster than the speed of light on a mission to save the sun from a premature death.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A butterfly's wing, a silicon chip, and a new equation for light hold the key to humankind's boldest dream -- faster than light travel.

A distinguished astronomer and a sensitive young woman are hurled into a dazzling cross-galactic adventure when an unexpected discovery links the explosive uncertainties of quantum physics with the still-untapped psychic powers of the human mind.

PCL is a bold theoretical synthesis, launching a voyage through awesome wonders -- and into unimaginable terrors. For Dr. Miles Prancer, at the end of his career, has made a discovery too horrifying to share with humanity. He has found a black hole in the center of the Sun a spreading cancer that gives our solar system less than three years to live!

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING