The Awakening

by Andrew Donkin

Three children find a spaceship deep inside a cave and unwittingly revive an ancient conflict between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, each fighting for control of the universe.

48 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sci-fi, fantasy book for proficient readers (according to the publisher), this story is fashioned after the animated television series “The Transformers” with a “Japanimation”/Anime influence. The plot involved three children who rekindle an ancient conflict between Autobots, the good guys, and Decepticons, the bad guys. Almost no description or character development exists in this story – just plot. The cover boasts of challenging sentence structure; however, there is none to be found in the book. The pictures coincide with the story to some extent, but there is an unusual text feature that might confuse the reader. On every page of the book, far left and far right, there are strips and photographs of anything in science from avalanches to underground caves to the Apollo mission to tadpoles. There appears to be no logic in the placement of the photographs. For the first ten plus pages the side notes relate to the story, but then there is not clear connect in most cases. This book is a prime example of a picture book that is not a picture book. The pictures actually detract from the story.

Ages 9-12 years
Sequence of events
Mostly useless for educational purposes