Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Gathering Blue
	Author:	Lowry, Lois
	Date Published:	2000
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 9
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Notes:
As told by Kira, the heroine.

Booktalk:
Mother had died, and I had spent the appropriate days in the field mourning her and protecting her soul. When I returned home, one of the older women wanted me thrown out of the village due to my misshapen knee and, to her, my uselessness. When she brought her complaint to the council, however, they made the decision that I would stay in the city, in their chambers as a valuable asset. For, I had been taught the art of stitching, an almost magical talent needed for the maintenance of the Singer’s robe which my mother had always repaired. With her gone, I was selected to take her place as a valued member of the community. I made friends with another orphan who had a talent for carving and who also stayed at the house of the Council. However, a disturbing pattern soon began to emerge. I met another talented ‘orphan’ who was being held by the council against her will. Then the lady who had taught me how to dye the yarn with which I sewed was found dead a day after I informed a 'friend' from the council of her insistence that there were “NO beasts in the forest.”