Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion by Gregory Mone, 304 pp, RL 4

 
Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion

by Gregory Mone

Published by Amulet Books

Self-described, "novelist, science writer, and storyteller," Gregory Mone is the perfect person to deliver a contemporary telling of an ancient myth (or is it?). Set in the future, Mone creates two worlds, each with intriguing technology, and each experiencing the dangerous consequences of climate change and pollution brought on by humans.

Initially told in alternating, third-person points of view, we first meet Kaya, a fourteen year-old Atalantean. Fearless, largely unsupervised and equipped with elite equipment like gravity gear and a deepwater dive suit, Kaya is determined to discover for herself if the People of the Sun (humans living on land) are real, or the stuff of stories, as the leaders of Atlantis would like their citizens to believe. At the same time, twelve-year-old Lewis Merriweather Gates is just trying to find a way to spend a few days camping with his dad. Unfortunately, Lewis' dad, Dr. Richard Gates, is a scientist who has been abandoned by his community due to his unstoppable quest to prove the existence of the underwater city of Atlantis. Thinking he is just stowing away in his dad's hovercar, Lewis instead finds himself aboard a submarine built by Hanna, a fourteen-year-old college graduate up for the engineering challenge (and looking to rebel against her parents) and piloted by his father as it is swept into the ocean by one of the increasingly frequent tidal waves plaguing the Earth. Kaya and Lewis' worlds collide in a place that puts everyone in danger.

Mone's fast paced story stands out for his seamless incorporation of the many consequences of climate change and the drastic rate at which human are polluting the oceans of the world, particularly with plastic. In back matter titled, "The Science of the Accidental Invasion," Mone expands on this, giving readers facts and numbers, as well as meaningful encouragement from himself, scientists and environmental activists that, "Individual efforts matter," and kids really can make a difference. With the legend of Atlantis, Mone has chosen the perfect way to get young readers thinking, and hopefully acting. In Mone's world, human pollution directly impacts other humans, even if they live in a secret city miles below the surface of the ocean. And, rather than suffer in silence, the Atlanteans retaliate in a big (tidal) way.

Add to this secret government machinations in both worlds and the suspense of Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion will have readers racing ahead to and ending that promises more to come. . . 

Written by Gregory Mone


By Gregory Mone & Bill Nye (the Science Guy)

Young Reader adaptations of adult books by Gregory Mone


Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

Under Earth, Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński, 112 pp, RL: ALL AGES