Earth Force Rising (Bounders)

I loved BOUNDERS! Unlike some books that can't fulfill the promise of their fascinating hook, this one drew me in more and more as the plot developed.It's a story of heroes who arise from the ashes of a gene pool so despised that it was deliberately bred out of the human race long ago, on post-climate-change Earth.Ignorant bullies would call them sped-heads today; society in the future calls them "Bounders". The name comes from the fact that their intricate, off-kilter neurological wiring renders them perfect candidates for a new, body-based version of a brilliant kind of space travel called Bounding.But it may also make them the perfect tools for a master plan only 12-year-old Bounder Jasper Adams and his friends at the training academy have begun to suspect.Monica Tesler brings back the wonder of classic science fiction with this surprising, character-driven adventure into a future where technology seems to have done little but give humanity wider scope for making the same old, tired mistakes. With a planet colonization program that's even less culturally sensitive than James T. Kirk, and a space program hand-in-glove with a military that seems strangely focused on glitzy public relations, who can Jasper and the Bounders trust? And when they've been told since birth that Bounding is their destiny, how can they even trust themselves?The story is told through Jasper's POV, in a truly believable Middle Grade voice. The events and technologies are grasped and explained only at the level that Jasper would get them, and so are the budding relationships at the Academy. Tesler demonstrates an extraordinary insight into the workings of varied mindsets along the autism spectrum as she fills us in on the Bounders' personalities with a compassionate, admiring pen. She also presents an inventive space-ship model that behaves like a quantum hybrid between the mechanism in Hitchcock's THE FLY and Schroedinger's Cat, which the "hard" sci fi fans among us should find deeply pleasing. With that, plus some adult characters ranging from the smarmy interplanetary version of Gilderoy Lockhart to a complex, interesting mentor who clearly knows more than he's yet able to reveal, Middle Grade readers will find this an engrossing thrill ride of a book.A debut that left me VERY impatient for the next volume in the series!!

I really enjoyed this middle-grade novel (and, perhaps more importantly, so did my 12-year-old son, who read it with me). The story of 12-year-old Jasper, whose difficulty paying attention on Earth hints at a unique brain structure that suits him for quantum space travel (or Bounding), the novel involves Jasper's initiation into the elite Earth Force, which has recruited kids like him to advance the space exploration program. On the space station that serves as the Earth Force training facility, Jasper meets other kids who possess what would have been considered disabilities on Earth: the fact-obsessed Cole, the in-her-own-world Mira, and others. As the group trains for their first Bound, they discover secrets aboard the space station that change everything they believed about Earth Force and about themselves.I felt the book began rather slowly, with less of a sense of urgency or risk than I prefer to see; Jasper's inattentiveness and desire to fit in were the main drivers of the plot for the book's first third. But once the training gets into full swing and the secrets begin to be revealed, the book moves along at a good clip. The child characters are diverse and distinctive, and there are sympathetic adult characters as well (along with the obligatory buffoons and ogres). The book has a certain "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" feel, with the initiation of misfit children into a secret, essentially magical world and the attempts by the main characters to uncover the mysteries within their new school. But that's not a bad thing, and one of the really nice twists is how Tesler utilizes actual, present-day disabilities--ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, etc.--to suggest both the children's difference and their latent powers. Along these lines, one of the most interesting aspects of the book is Jasper's developing relationship with Mira, who just about everyone else aboard ship has written off as hopeless. It's poignant, well conceived, and well handled.All in all, this is a fun and imaginative ride. "Bounders" is first in a series, and I look forward to the next installment!

After hearing several young people discuss Bounders with enthusiasm, I picked it up to scan it. But I didn’t scan it. I got ensnared and read it word-for-word. The plot is sci-fi, but plausible today. The characters were built with complexity and nuance. They had skills and traits that, as the plot unfolds, are essential to the success of the team’s mission. This is team building that only WATSON the super computer could figure out. Soon I was reading the book on two tracks: one, as a fun sci-fi thriller; two, as a primer on the value of diverse skills in a team environment. I’m hopeful that the next in the series will be out soon.

This book gives me hope! It is both a great story, and a refreshing move toward celebrating less “typical” minds. I work in the public schools and am increasingly concerned about our society’s obsession with labeling children based on their weaknesses. We have created a simplistic intelligence type as a measuring stick for normal. The main characters in “Bounders” are all quirky and don’t fit the mold. But readers soon learn that they all have wonderful, previously unidentified gifts of their own, and we really can’t live without them! The author dares to present a new kind of hero, and it works!!! A fun read, the kids love it, and it gives a fabulous message.

Ok.