Rowan of Rin

Title: Rowan of Rin

Author: Emily Rodda

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

This story is about a young boy, Rowan, who lives with a tribe of people in a town called Rin. At the beginning of the story the readers is shown a stream that is drying up and causing the town to fail including the animals they rely on, the bukshahs. Rowan is the caretaker of these gentle giants and has a special one, Star, near his heart. They village soon finds out that the way to figure out the problem of the water is to climb up the large mountain where a dragon is rumored to live. They must go to the town "wise woman" Sheba to find out the way to the top. Rowan is the only person who can cause the map to show up when Sheba throws it at him. Soon Rowan and 6 other villagers are on their way up the perilous mountain. This story follows their travels through giant spiders, cursed bogs, dangerous sand, tight tunnels and finally the dragon. At the end, only Rowan and Strong John come face to face with the dragon. Rowan faces his fears and helps the dragon remove a bone from his throat. Throughout this journey, all he thinks about is getting water for Star. He thinks he is free to go. Yet, when the dragon is free from pain he is hungry, and he wants Strong John. But, his fire is causing all the ice to finally melt and flow down to Rin in the stream. Soon Strong John and Rowan are "sliding" down the stream and back to Rin. The story ends happily with all of Rin celebrating Rowan's bravery and the restoration of the water to the stream. Rowan has acheived his goal of helping Star and saving his town.

I don't believe that I would use this book in my classroom. There is a lot of disturbing images and problems in this book. Also, it depicts a young boy that is made fun of because he isn't the best in his tribe of his age. While he does end up being the hero in the end, its depiction of him from beginning to end is still weak. I don't want any of my students feeling like they are like this character. While this book is very descriptive and has great imagery, it isn't worth having students feel down about themselves or feel scared from this book.