The Meq by Steve Cash

This was the last student book club book for 2006-2007!! And it was a good one. This fantasy novel is also on the 2008 Abe Lincoln H.S. Book Award list, so the book clubbers are getting a head start on next year's list.

This was a very unique fantasy, so I appreciated reading it. I liked how the Meq remain twelve years old, and I loved all the historical tidbits thrown into the plot--Einstein, Jesse James, Scott Joplin, and the list goes on and on.

Z loses his parents at the beginning of the novel and they try to tell him that he is Meq and different, but he has to figure things out for himself. There are others like him in the world and he runs into a lot of them. Of course, there is the evil one who markets girls as slaves. But, most of the Meq are good and trying to use the power of the stones for good. Z travels to China and Africa for many years on his mission to rescue a friend's daughter and meet his beloved.

There is a sequel, Time Dancers, that I'll have to purchase next school year!