Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	A Gift of Dragons
	Author:	McCaffrey, Anne
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 8
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Keevan couldn't quite keep up with the other candidates and knew he would be teased again. Just as he knew many other things that he shouldn't have known at his age. Beterli, the most senior of the boys, delighted in teasing and ridiculing Keevan, the smallest of the dragonboys. But, it was all worth it for the chance to be chosen--to be chosen by a dragon to be a dragonrider. To be chosen to be a lifelong companion to a dragon, to fly with one's dragon to fight of the perilous thread in the skies of Pern. To fly between to any point anywhere on the world. He simply had to be chosen at the Hatching. No one knew what impressed a dragon, and dragons had never chosen to enlighten their human friends if, in fact, they knew themselves. Beterli had already been to many Impressions and failed to Impress. Perhaps the dragons, even fresh out of the shell, were discerning enough to feel little respect for bullies like Beterli, and thus had left him alone. Keevan was only old enough to be a candidate by one day, so he felt he was the least likely to be left standing on the day the eggs hatched. One more reason why he had to Impress at his first hatching. When the candidates were allowed onto the hot sands of the hatching ground, Keevan walked over to an egg slightly away from the others with a soft greenish-blue tinge to it. The consensus was that it would house a mere green, so Beterli was the only one who bothered him, and then just to annoy him. Then, it was time for evening chores and dinner. And, for an ongoing argument about the number of chosen, 72, and the number of eggs, 40, and whether the youngest or those who had multiple opportunities to impress but never had should be weeded out. Keevan was already worried when Beterli found him and insinuated that he had been weeded out. In the struggle that ensued, Beterli rammed the handle of a shovel into Keevan who fell and awoke in the sickroom with a broken skull and leg; effectively eliminated for the current Impression. Beterli, on the other hand, had proven himself unacceptable and been sent off. Then, Keevan was left alone with the numbweed to help the pain. He awoke to the humming!! The Impression was beginning! And he was stuck in bed while everyone else was at the Impression. But... His knee was splinted and there was no feeling in the bone, really. He swung out of bed, jerked his white candidate's tunic from the peg put it on, and retrieved one of the poles they used to fish clothes from the washing troughs for use as a walking stick. Suddenly, the humming stopped. Crying, Keevan began to hobble frantically across the cavern to the Hatching Ground. It was silent, as if both people and dragons were holding their breath. Sometimes, he had to hop, and sometimes he fell, but always, he kept on. Then, he heard the first cheer as the first egg cracked and the dragon chose its rider. This was followed by more and more cheers. No one notice his entrance or his halting progress. By the time Keevan could see, it looked like all the eggs had hatched. Not wanting everyone to see his failure, he scrambled to the shadowy walls of the Hatching ground. He didn't notice the group of unpicked boys drifting in his direction, but collapsed to the ground sobbing. Nor did he hear the Weyrleader and his mate..."Never seen anything like it, only thirty-nine chosen, and the bronze trying to leave without making an impression. ... Where is he going...not to the entrance after all. Oh, what have we there, in the shadows?" Don't worry! Please don't worry! Keevan heard the words in his head. "Go Away. Leave ME alone!" He said. Why! Don't you like me! My Name is Heth! stated Keevan's Bronze. I'm hungry! Against all odds, the Smallest dragonboy and the hatchling who wouldn't choose anybody else, walked out of the Hatching Ground together...forever!