Away Is A Strange Place To Be

Away Is A Strange Place To Be
Hoover, H.M.
Fitzhenry and Whiteside limited, Toronto
Science Fiction
4-6

This book is set in the year 2349. In the book, humans have managed to build Habitats in outer space. The main character Abby is an orphan who live with her uncle Mochi in his Luxurious Inn. Many rich people from the outer space habitats stayed in Uncle Mochi's Inn. One of these guests was a very arrogant and spoiled boy named Bryan. Abby's uncle wanted her to entertain their young guest. While doing so Bryan and Abby were kidnapped one night while at an amusement park. The two found themselves in a child slave labor camp owned by the powerful VitaCon corporation that forced children to do manual labor in an unfinished Habitat. This was a horrible place where faceless people named after colors that called them selves instructors, drugged and threatened the students. They told the students who were mostly orphaned that they must work to build the new habitat. They were also told that there parents had sent them there on purpose to teach them discipline. Abby knew this was a lie and she longed to be able to return to her home at the Inn. Abby and Bryan decide to escape. They make it out of the compound and a man on parole for murder helps them get on a space ship so they could go home. The captin discovers them stowing away and is very angry. She is afraid that she will lose her job if the powerful ViaCom corporation finds out that she had a hand in there escape. She quietly gets the children to a port where they will be safe. The children go to the authorities and are able to communicate with Uncle Mochi and Bryan's mother. Bryan becomes physically ill when he find out that his parents did send him to that awful place. Abby discovers that the only reason she was kidnapped was because she was in the wring place at the wrong time. Bryan's mother makes arrangements for both children to be brought to her home instead of letting Abby go home. His mother made Uncle Machi sign a paper that said he would not sue her for Abby's kidnapping in return for a large sum of money before letting her return home. Abby and Uncle Mochi use the money free the other kidnapped children and give them a safe home with a college fund. After seeing the poor condition of the children in the camp, Bryan's mother finally felt guilty for sending him to that aweful place.

This book seems to be very obscure. When I googled the title my own blog entry came up! None the less, I really liked this book. Science fiction was always my favorite genre when I was young because I love the suspense and being transformed into another world. This book was most appealing to me because the characters were impossible not to connect with. Abby was a sweet, smart, and responsible girl who was very unpretentious. I admire her morals that separated her from Bryan. Unlike Abby, Bryan was very selfish and manipulative. In the beginning of the book I did not like Bryan at all but as the book went along I realized that his parents had raised him to be the way he was. Bryan was a good kid at heart. I cannot imagine the pain and rejection he must have felt when he realizes that his parents wanted to send him away. I bet that there are a lot of students that could identify with this. I would like to assign this to students in my class that are not fond of reading. I think that they might find an interest in this genre as I did. I after they read the book I would like them to write how they picture the year 2349. I think their imaginative storeys would be fascinating.