SOLVED. Ilona, you have stolen my song. [s]

[Scott]

I read a sci-fi novel that I got from the library in the early 80's. I do not remember the title nor the author but I remember quite a bit of the story and characters.

A woman named Ilona (possibly Llona or Iiona) is the babysitter for a group of children called "goslings". Her job is to report their use of special powers. There are twin boys, Colin and Calin, and one of them was taken away after Ilona reported him. One of the twins had the ability to make people stop moving. Another boy, Hector had the power of pyrokinesis (a la Firestarter) but threatened to burn Ilona if she reported him. There are also two girls in the group, one older and one younger, but I forget their names. The younger girl had the power to communicate with animals by dancing.

Somewhere in the story Ilona decides to take the children and run. They are assisted by a man named Falcon (or Hawk, or something) who is a "skydancer" (professional zero-G dancer on a holographic TV program). They are pursued by robots of some sort, one of which keeps repeating "Ilona, you have stolen my song." It is believed by the other twin boy that the reported twin had his consciousness implanted in that robot and becomes obsessed with Ilona after hearing her sing a song she sang for the children.

I have been searching for the title and author of this book for years, but to no avail. I have tried several search strings that have turned up nothing. I'm hoping to find someone else who's read this book with a better memory than I.

[SamSpayedPI]

Green is for Galanx by Josephine R. Stone.

It's available at the internet archive. You need to be a member to take out books, but membership is free; you only need to give them an email address.

[Scott]

SamSpayedPI wrote: "Green is for Galanx by Josephine R. Stone.

It's available at the internet archive. You need to be a member to take out books, but membership is free; you only need..."

Thank you so much! The free version was tempting but I found a hard-cover first edition on eBay in excellent condition and ordered it. Thanks again!

[SamSpayedPI]

You're welcome -- glad you found your book!