A Beautiful Friendship

Gr 6–9—Weber's first YA novel stars Stephanie Harrington, who shares the intelligence and determination of her descendant, Honor Harrington, from the author's adult series. To divert Stephanie from entering the woods that harbor dangerous beasties, her mother sets her the problem of discovering how something is poaching celery, of all things, from human farms. The teen is remarkably successful, not only discovering the culprits to be the smallest known sapient species, heretofore unknown to humanity, but bonding with one as well. She conceals her treecat's existence from everyone until a disaster brings Lionheart's clan and her parents to the rescue. Flash forward two years and Stephanie is walking a fine line between cooperating with xeno-anthropologists who want to study the creatures and concealing as much about them as possible for their protection. She has a few allies beyond her parents, including Scott MacDallan, the only other human bonded to a treecat. Then a "scientist" who the animals and their human allies instinctively distrust appears on the scene. There is a quality to Weber's novel that recalls young adult science fiction from decades ago with its earnest protagonists and complete absence of cursing that mixes strangely with some of the technical elements like handgun specs. Even if non-dystopian sci-fi weren't extremely scarce though, Weber's likable heroine, empathic aliens, and quick pacing make this a worthy addition.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI