What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I Feel Like the Morning Star
This topic is about I Feel Like the Morning Star
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SOLVED: Children's/YA > SOLVED. Sci-Fi possibly YA around 1992-1995: Earth is unlivable and people live on a spacestation. Main character is looking for source of singing. [s]

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message 1: by Candice (new) - added it

Candice Opper | 2 comments I know I read this when I was an early teen, so 92-95ish? It was new then and was in the main section of the library, so I don't know if it was coded YA or not. The cover was navy blue with stars and possibly something else. In my head the title was I Know Why the Evening Star (possibly Morning Star) Sings but the only thing I get when I search that is Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

I think the Earth was unlivable, so people were on the space station. it wasn't a happy existence, and the main character (likely a girl if it stuck with me this long) would hear mysterious singing either every morning or every night and they were trying to track down the source.

That's all I remember, any help is very appreciated!


message 2: by Billy (new)

Billy Dab | 1 comments The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson?


message 4: by Cupcakedoll (new)

Cupcakedoll | 322 comments I Feel Like the Morning Star by Gregory Maguire Title fits!


message 5: by Andy Phillips (new)

Andy Phillips | 240 comments I've read The Dark Beyond the Stars and I don't remember any singing, but that doesn't mean anything necessarily. The main character is male though, and it's a generation ship, not a space station. I don't think it's the book, but I hope I'm wrong.


message 6: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28647 comments Seconding I Feel Like the Morning Star. It has the singing.

From Publishers Weekly — Fantasist Maguire's novel is set six years after a nuclear war, in a high-tech underground shelter run by an "elected" dictatorship. In shifting points of view, readers learn that three teenagers are the cause of change and growth in this static and fearful society. Sorb is the initiator when, protesting the accidental death of another teen who was a troublemaker, he stops taking his tranquilizers and begins to dream of the outside world. Sorb's belief that there is an outside world draws his friends Ella (a musician) and Mart (a math whiz) into an elaborate plan to unlock the tunnels and set them all free. Helping their cause is renowned singer and activist Mem Dora Prite, whose own stubborn refusal to sing becomes the final factor in Ella's accepting Sorb's need to be free. Their flight to freedom is both exciting and moving. While the transitions between points of view are not always smooth and the ending is a little overwritten, this is still a compelling read. Maguire creates suspenseful action and a bevy of memorable characters.

From School Library Journal — The inhabitants of Pioneer Colony have spent the last five years in a tedious existence, organized into compounds, ruled by a Council of Elders and harassed by their own j-guards. These 400 people are 4000 feet underground in a secret facility, a "21st century catacomb," survivors of an atomic attack. In the time they have been underground no one has questioned if Earth is once again safe, or if they should try to tunnel to the surface--no one until three teens, willing to risk death or torture, and encouraged by a former dissenter and singing personality known as Morning Star, begin to question the Council of Elders. The monotonous sterility of the underground setting, the lethargy of its inhabitants, and the regimentation of the colony are chillingly described, contrasting strongly with the inquisitiveness and risk-taking of the teens. Strong characterization offers young adults identity with Ella, Sorb, and Mart, while the shadowiness of the adults heightens their dissimilarity and offers further proof of their lack of caring. Although there are other excellent survival-after-nuclear-holocaust books, such as David Brin's The Postman (1986) or David Palmer's Emergence (1984, both Bantam), this depiction of a barren, underground society is a top choice for young adults.


message 7: by Candice (new) - added it

Candice Opper | 2 comments thanks! that sounds right!!!


message 8: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28647 comments Awesome, glad that turned out to be the right one!


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