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Truesight by David Stahler Jr.

Truesight
by David Stahler Jr.
Eos, 2004. 168 pgs. Chapter book.

Truesight is a futuristic story of a Utopian society on a distant planet. There are two cities on this planet Melville is home to the Seers, people who can see. Harmony is the city of the blind. The people of Harmony are descended from a group of people on Earth who decided to embrace their disability of blindness and create a Utopian society of only blind people. They decide to carry the concept of their society even further and genetically alter their unborn children so they would also be blind. 13 year-old Jacob is an active member of Harmony until he starts experiencing severe headaches. His physical suffering causes him to act and react differently to his environment and the people around him.
This book falls right in my favorite genre of children's literature, futuristic science fiction. It is the first of a trilogy. The library has copies both in Juvenile and YA. It will probably find more readers in the YA section, but will also appeal to some of our mature fifth and sixth graders. Content-wise there is nothing wrong with it, it is just of a more serious nature. I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.

Comments

curlyq said…
This was a great book--it definitely had a similar feel to "The Giver." It was a very fast read and an interesting story. I found the idea of an intentional all-blind society to be fascinating.
Sam said…
This Is One Of The Best Books I've Read.

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