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74th out of 816 books
—
2,047 voters
The Divide (The Divide #1)
by
Elizabeth Kay (Goodreads Author)
When Felix's parents take him to "The Divide"--a spot in Costa Rica where the waters that run down to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans separate--Felix finds himself in a bizarre parallel world where mythical creatures and magic are a reality. There, he meets Betony, a tangle child and herbalist who becomes his friend in this strange land. As Felix explores this new world he
...more
Published
(first published July 1st 2003)
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This book and the subsequent ones are again victims of the magic of having read them as a child and loved them. I discovered from personal experience that a positive experience as a child builds a positive experience for life and a negative experience can prove negative into the future. For instance books I loved then I still love now. And also because of my negative experience with costumed gorillas and clowns I still think that clowns (and clown-like dolls) are the creepiest things in the worl...more
This fantasy book was recommended to me by a 4th grade student who is part of my enrichment classes. A boy named Felix is in Costa Rica to visit the Continental Divide with his parents because he is not expected to live much longer due to a heart condition. When he passes out when straddling the "divide" he wakes up in a mythical land where unicorns are called "brittlehorns" and pixies are known as "japegrins". He meets an elf-girl named Betony. The creatures of this world believe humans and sci...more
I bought this book in a second-hand bookstore. I really loved the cover art. Thought it looked pretty cool, and I read the first chapter. It was about a young teen diagnosed with a rare heart condition that has no cure. He goes to the Continental Divide with his parents, and he blacks out. He wakes up in a world where there is no science, but there is magic. It was interesting enough to catch my attention. The problem is that in parts where there are explanations about science to the mythical cr...more
Jan 01, 2012
Emmy Lou
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
middle-schoolers who enjoy fantasy
Recommended to Emmy Lou by:
Nexla
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Three years ago, my best friend shoved this book in my backpack and made me take it home, along with the rest of the trilogy. She promised me I'd like this series. I put them on my to-read shelf and left them there.
Three years later, I finally pick up the first book. AND IT WAS GOOD. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't pick up this book sooner. I think I would have liked it more if I was a bit younger.
My main problem with The Divide is that I could not relate to Felix wh...more
Three years ago, my best friend shoved this book in my backpack and made me take it home, along with the rest of the trilogy. She promised me I'd like this series. I put them on my to-read shelf and left them there.
Three years later, I finally pick up the first book. AND IT WAS GOOD. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't pick up this book sooner. I think I would have liked it more if I was a bit younger.
My main problem with The Divide is that I could not relate to Felix wh...more
(This is my first time reviewing, so bear with me, and if it's too short, please spare my life. :'( )
I haven't read The Divide in a long time; being the last time I read it was when I was barely 9. Nonetheless, I do remembering it being a sensational book, and one of my absolute favorites.
However, I also remember being a hardcore fan of the Enid Blyton books, so I don't trust my childhood instincts that much.
The Divide introduced me to the wonderful and magical world of folklore and fantasy, an...more
I haven't read The Divide in a long time; being the last time I read it was when I was barely 9. Nonetheless, I do remembering it being a sensational book, and one of my absolute favorites.
However, I also remember being a hardcore fan of the Enid Blyton books, so I don't trust my childhood instincts that much.
The Divide introduced me to the wonderful and magical world of folklore and fantasy, an...more
I really wanted to like this book. It was eye catching, and had an interesting premise, and yet I found myself extremely bored with it. The characters took a long time to be likable. I found them very one-dimensional until the last ten chapters or so, and out of about thirty chapters, that's a long time to not care about the main characters. There were also quite a few sections that were very educational. The characters would stop using their normal speech patterns to explain some form of scienc...more
In this charming book, a boy named Felix is flung into another world across the Costa Rica divide. Felix is not like many other boys; he has a rare heart disease. Felix may never even live long enough to see his next birthday. A world of mythical creatures and magic awaits him on the other side of the divide. Felix sets off on a remarkable journey to find a magical cure for his disease and a way home. He encounters many strange creatures along the way, may they be friend or foe. One of the frien...more
May 17, 2012
Alyssa Garcia
added it
I've always seen this book on the book shelf in middle school and I always thought it looked very interesting just by looking at the cover.I finally picked up the book and it was actually pretty good. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't pick up this book sooner. I think I would have liked it more if I was a bit younger.My main problem with The Divide is that I could not relate to the main character Felix whatsoever. The world Kay has created is so neat, so different that what I've read about an...more
The divide is a great book. I have been reading this for a while because I'm not the fastest reader. Felix is the main charecter. He has an illness. This illness could kill him. When in the hospital the doctor told his parents what happend and he over heard. His parents disided to take him to the top of the mountain he has always wanted to go to. When he reached the top he died!
Intead of going to heaven he woke up in a difrent world. This world is full of the things we think are myths. The best...more
Intead of going to heaven he woke up in a difrent world. This world is full of the things we think are myths. The best...more
Good children's book. The subject matter is interesting as it observes the feelings of a teenager who has been diagnosed with a fatal heart condition, and his subsequent trip into a different dimension where all the mythical beings of our world actually exist. He then tries to find a cure in this world that is ruled by magic instead of science.
Interesting observations as well on how scientific progress affect a world/country/people.
The vocabulary is probably more appropriate for ages 10-12, bu...more
Interesting observations as well on how scientific progress affect a world/country/people.
The vocabulary is probably more appropriate for ages 10-12, bu...more
The first in a new trilogy by the author. 13-year-old Felix has a heart condition. While he and his parents are in Costa Rica he passes out. When he wakes, he finds himself in a magical world populated by griffins, unicorns, dragons, pixies, and elves. Humans, their science, and their culture are considered mythical. He meets Betony, an elf, and with her help and that of some other fantastic inhabitants. Felix embarks on a journey to find a cure for his disease. They soon find themselves sought...more
Started off kind of slow, but it got better as the book went on. That being said it wasn't good enough for me to consider reading on with the series.
Something about how the author wrote the story felt really boring and repetitive in the wording.
I enjoyed the world in which the characters were in. It would've been nice if the story went over the actual "Divide" a bit more.
I think the book would be a decent read for a younger reader(Someone 13 or so, as it was meant to be), but to someone closer...more
Something about how the author wrote the story felt really boring and repetitive in the wording.
I enjoyed the world in which the characters were in. It would've been nice if the story went over the actual "Divide" a bit more.
I think the book would be a decent read for a younger reader(Someone 13 or so, as it was meant to be), but to someone closer...more
Cute story about an ailing young boy who gets stuck in another world by crossing the continental divide. While there, he helps an elf and some friends oust a corrupt potions salesman.
I liked the whole parallel universe thing, and I loved how in the world across the Divide, the humans were mythical creatures and unicorns & griffons were real. But I'm really not sure why all the creatures had to have different names from the creatures in our world, even though most of the other words were the...more
I liked the whole parallel universe thing, and I loved how in the world across the Divide, the humans were mythical creatures and unicorns & griffons were real. But I'm really not sure why all the creatures had to have different names from the creatures in our world, even though most of the other words were the...more
A bit on the childish side, so I'd recommend it for middle schoolers or those in the mood for a younger book.
After passing out on the Divide in Costa Rica, Felix ends up in a completely different world without away to return. Suffering from a chronic heart disease that requires him to take medicine to live, his chances in this new world aren't looking good. Throw in tangle-folk (elves), brittlehorns (unicorns), and brazzles (griffins), you've got an exciting adventure!
(taken from our main facebo...more
After passing out on the Divide in Costa Rica, Felix ends up in a completely different world without away to return. Suffering from a chronic heart disease that requires him to take medicine to live, his chances in this new world aren't looking good. Throw in tangle-folk (elves), brittlehorns (unicorns), and brazzles (griffins), you've got an exciting adventure!
(taken from our main facebo...more
This review pertains to the entirety of the Divide series to save time; however, I will try to keep this review free of detail-specific spoilers that you can't figure out from reading the book summaries. Anything more explicit than that will be marked by SPOILERS! in the line preceding it. With that said:
This was a hard series for me to get through. The reading level itself is very elementary: the sentences are short and choppy, detail isn't particularly complicated, and any invented words are a...more
This was a hard series for me to get through. The reading level itself is very elementary: the sentences are short and choppy, detail isn't particularly complicated, and any invented words are a...more
I absolutely loved this book when I was younger and I read it again recently for a lot of reasons, one of which being that I'm sick to death of paranormal love triangles; and Elizabeth Kay didn't disappoint.
Felix has a really great voice for the target audience and the characters are all loveable (or "hate-able" in Snakeweed's case) to just the right amount. The humour is spot on and the twists and turns of Felix's journey are perfectly paced. Felix and Betony are believable children and Ironcl...more
Felix has a really great voice for the target audience and the characters are all loveable (or "hate-able" in Snakeweed's case) to just the right amount. The humour is spot on and the twists and turns of Felix's journey are perfectly paced. Felix and Betony are believable children and Ironcl...more
Jul 31, 2011
AAnnieC
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to AAnnieC by:
Sami K (age 10)
This book was recommended to me by my 10 year old niece. The main character, Felix, is a young boy with a heart condition for which modern medicine has no cure. On a trip to the divide with his parents Felix has an episode and wakes up in another world filled with a completely different civilization. This world uses spells, potions, and magic for everything in life. He meets and befriends a young girl named Betony who along with her family and friends help Felix on his quest to find a cure for h...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Nov 13, 2012
Jennifer Wardrip
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
trt-posted-reviews
Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com
Felix is a boy whose parents are a little overprotective of him. And who can blame them? Their son has a potentially fatal heart condition. One wrong move could be Felix's last. Considering the circumstances, his parents are doubly horrified when Felix disappears during a family vacation to Costa Rica.
While his parents fear that Felix might be kidnapped or lost in the jungle, the truth is far stranger. Their son is in another world - one he ent...more
Felix is a boy whose parents are a little overprotective of him. And who can blame them? Their son has a potentially fatal heart condition. One wrong move could be Felix's last. Considering the circumstances, his parents are doubly horrified when Felix disappears during a family vacation to Costa Rica.
While his parents fear that Felix might be kidnapped or lost in the jungle, the truth is far stranger. Their son is in another world - one he ent...more
This book is about a boy named Felix who has a heart problem who is transported to a place called the Divide. There humans and animals like dogs, cats, and other animals are mythical creatures and creatures like Brazzels are normal. There he befriends a tangled-child named Betony and a Brazzel named Ironclaw who is mad for math. Maybe they can help Felix's heart with a spell and stop a evil Japegrin from making the Divide fall apart. Brazzel means Griffin. Japegrin means Pixie. Tangled-child mea...more
This book is a surprisingly interesting find. When I first read it, I was younger, but upon rereading it, I found I still enjoyed it, even if it was for different reasons. Instead of portraying the typical fantasy world with no problems and fantastic settings, this is a real place, with an economy and a thriving business world. This makes this funny, sometimes sad, book a definite read for anyone who likes a story that appeals to several demographics at once.
From the cover that is split right down the middle, (Hardback edition)to a story that not only made me want to tear through the next in the series, I have to say these are some of the most fun I have had reading books. Enter Felix, a boy on the verge of dying from a disease that is raging through his body. His parents take him to Costa Rica as a trip they figure will be his last. Within days, he becomes lost and soom is swept into a majestic land called The Divide, where he meets a tangle wood g...more
Ugh, a dreadful fantasy story that spent waaaaay too much time jumping around from different characters' plots within a single chapter. Yuck. Took me an eternity to read because the story was boring and the characters just weren't terribly interesting.----------------I used to own this one, but it wandered off of my shelves, so I've been stuck having books 2 and 3 'til I recently found this one at the Goodwill again. I thought I'd give it a read in an effort to get other kids reading this one ag...more
Sep 05, 2009
Iris Gamino
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fiction lovers!
Recommended to Iris by:
i found it myself
This book is really interesting, it has a world opposite of ours were we are the mythical creatures and the creatures are named differently, the main character has a heart illness he goes to Costa Rica and stands on the divide exactly down the middle and dies for a second and awakens in another world, he meets a Brazzle or griffin and an Elf or Tangle child, he then has to go through a long journey.
A brilliant book. I read it a few years ago now but still remember it's engrossing plot and beautifully described characters. In this book the reader is truly transported into another world through the power of the author's writing. "The Divide" is far superior to many of it's more well known counterparts and I would highly recommend it to all children.
Felix’s heart condition makes him an unusual kind of hero but sends him on a typical quest. While the substitution of different words for familiar fantasy creatures was a bit of a poser for me in the beginning, the notion of a human as being a mythical being was interesting enough for me to keep going through the duller passages.
I really, really enjoyed this book! Yes, it's for kids and some adults might find the plot too simple. I was captivated by all the magical/fantasy creatures put together in one world. I thought the characters and writing were really good too. Another recommendation from my dd, and I can't wait to read the next one.
I don't really remember when I read this novel. My cousin let me borrow it several years ago and I remembered it only recently. This could be my fault, as I have an awful memory of some books, but it still seems to have slipped my mind until now. We'll see if I can't get my hands on this to read it again.
Cute story about a boy Felix with a weak heart who crosses to another dimension filled with mythological characters such as elves, gnomes, griffins, unicorns, etc. There, Felix and his new-found friends set off on a thrilling quest to find a cure for Felix's illness and a way for him to return home.
Fun read. Fantasy, of course.
Fun read. Fantasy, of course.
This book is about a felix, a shy boy with a heart disease that discovered a different world and made friends, the things he doesnt have much of. Felix goes on a big adventurous journey to find what he has always dreamt of, a cure. This is a great book and I encourage you to read it
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| who loves this book? | 6 | 25 | Jul 27, 2012 07:42am |
Elizabeth Kay is the daughter of a Polish father and an English mother. She originally went to art school, and she is also an illustrator. She has an MA in Creative Writing, and does some teaching and editing. During a varied writing career - from radio plays and short stories to poetry and novels for both adults and children - she has won a number of prizes, including the Cardiff International Po...more
More about Elizabeth Kay...
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“Are you frightened of me?' asked Ironclaw. 'No. Why should I be?' 'I'm very fierce,' said the brazzle, with some pride. 'All brazzles are fierce. They have to be, they guard hoards of gold. And they peck people's eyes out. Only when necessary, you understand.' 'Have you ever pecked someone's eyes out?' Ironclaw looked sheepish. 'No. But I could if I wanted to.' Felix smiled.”
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“I'm a shreddermouf, aren't I?' 'I was afraid of that,' said Tansy. He was going to keep her in his larder until he was hungy again, and then he was going to rip her apart. 'Dis is my lair', said the shreddermouth proudly. 'It's de best lair in Tiratattle.' 'Is it?' said Tansy. 'Oh yes. It's a drainage tunnel. Goes right up to de surface, it does. Lots of storage space. My name's Gulp.' 'Tansy,' said Tansy, deciding not to ask him what he kept in his storage space and wondering whether introductions were quite the thing.”
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Jan 28, 2013 09:32am