Atherton: The House of Power

Carman, P. (2007). Atherton: the house of power. New York: Little, Brown. 

Atherton: The House of Power by Patrick Carman is a 2008 Bluebonnet Award book.

Exposition:

In the planet Atherton, an 11 year old boy, Edgar, works in the fig groves. Edgar is constantly getting in trouble and Mr. Ratikan, the grove manager, punished him by taking away the little food that he is given after a day of hard work. Edgar is very agile despite the lack of food, his hobby is to climb up the Tabletop cliffs until one day he discovers a book.

Conflict:

Atherton is a three-level planet, the Highlands (top of the planet) is where the ruler lives along with the "upper class" citizens, these people are literate and keep the water source under a strict control. Tabletop (middle section) is where most of the people live in three sections called villages the Grove, the Village of Sheep, and the Village of Rabbits. These people work all day and have to pay dues to the Highlands with either their crop of their meat. The Flatlands is where all the waste goes and nobody has ever been there.

Rising Action:

Edgar buries the book: one of the many rules dictates that if anyone finds a book, they must turn it in to the Highlands without looking inside it. While Edgar is frustrated about the fact that he can't read the book, he also remembers a brief memory from the past where another person, perhaps his father told him that something "would come to him." Edgar is tormented by this memory and finally decides to climb to the Highlands (which is forbidden) to find someone that could read the book to him. The night that Edgar climbs all the way to the Highlands, he meets Samuel, a lonely boy that spends his time reading books. The boys make a pact and Edgar returns to the Highlands to hear Samuel read the book to him. In the mean time there are tremors across Tabletop and the Highlands, at the beginning they are barely noticeable but the tremors are stronger as time goes by. As Edgar is climbing again, he notices that the cliff is somewhat shorter and begins wondering what is happening. Samuel and Edgar discover that the Highlands are sinking as they read the mysterious journal. Then Samuel hides Edgar under his bed and tucks in the last page of the book in Edgar's pocket when Sir Emerik comes to his house and realizes that he is reading a book that no one had ever seen before. Sir Emerik takes Samuel to the fortress to let Lord Phineus ( the tyrant ruler of Atherton) know about the book. Lord Phineus' cruel manner frightens Samuel revealing the secret of the book to the men. Edgar goes back to Tabletop, visits the Village of Rabbits where he has a terrible encounter with Sir Emerik in which Edgar burns part of Emerik's hair. Emerik lies to Edgar and sends him to the Flatlands where he believes that Edgar will perish.

Climax:

All the people of Atherton realize that the Highlands are sinking and begin to prepare for what will happen afterwards. When the Highlands sink, there are battles between the Tabletop and Highlands people, Lord Phineus returns to his stronghold to protect himself and to stop the water flow to Tabletop. Edgar goes to the Flatlands and finds that two men live there: Vincent and Dr. Kincaid. Dr. Kincaid reveals to Edgar that he was the man from that early childhood memory and that the time has come, they must go back to Tabletop to warn the others about Tabletop's sinking as well. The real danger of Tabletop being at the same level as the Flatlands is the Cleaners, horrible creatures that eat anything and everything. Ever level is sinking, Atherton is changing and so is its people, alliances are being made between different groups of people, the people of Atherton have one purpose: to survive.

Falling Action:

When things calm down, Samuel is looking for Edgar and finds Isabel, Edgar's friend they both go to the fortress to find the water source and reopen it.

Edgar, Vincent, and Dr. Kincaid are also going to Atherton's stronghold to discover the truth.

Lord Phineus has gone mad when most of the Highlanders deserted him and goes to the water source to punish and gain control of the people again

Resolution:

The main characters are about to begin a dangerous journey that will continue on the next book: Atherton: Rivers of Fire.

Personal Reaction:

I read this book last summer...I just could not put it down! I'm happy to report that I went back to work and read the book with my GT class and they loved it!! They really got into it and even some of the reluctant readers were engaged and asking questions about the book. At the end, the class begged me to read the second book with them.... and we did! The book also contains quotes from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, connecting two of the characters, Dr. Kincaid and Dr. Harding, throughout the story. The characters and themes in this book are well developed, Patrick Carman uses suspense and understatement that keep the reader wanting to read more of the story. The unexpected surprises that the characters encounter add depth to the story line and take the reader on a journey in which s/he can vividly imagine the characters' tribulations, joys, sufferings, etc.

I highly recommend this book to upper level elementary students o Jr. High students.