Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	The Rover
	Author:	Odom, Mel
	Date Published:	2001
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 12
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
It's not my fault that I have an active imagination...and that I'm curious. I am, after all, a Third Level Librarian in the Vault of All Known Knowledge. I do vex Grandmagister Frollo because, at least so he says, I have the zeal and passion and a sheer grasp for the written word...but I insist on cluttering my mind with what he considers the most trivial literature in the Vault. But, he does find me to be more dependable than many...and he had a task for me. He needed me to go to the Yondering Docks and deliver a package to the Customs House for shipping. A secret package. When I asked what was in it and whom it was to go to, he cut me short and refused to answer. Knowing my proclivities, he should have known how that would eat at me...how I would HAVE to know more. He should have known I would have to hang around to find out more. To at least find out whom the package was being delivered to. I only had to wait about ten minutes after dropping the package off before it was picked up. And not by another dweller such as myself, but by a HUMAN. He acted suspicious, defensive, as if he might be being followed. And, so...I did. Follow him, that is. Then, I saw what looked like a misshapen elf hanging upside down from a building holding a scythe. Then, there were two more on the other side of the street. They dropped from the eaves, unfurled great wings and took out after the strange human. Boneblights!! They had appeared near the end of the Cataclysm and were deadly. Five of them in total there were. My legs refused to obey my mind's order to run away. Instead, they continued on towards the alley where the creatures had disappeared after the human. "Look out..." I shouted to the human. He turned and drew his long sword. I ran on towards him, drawn by the mystery of the package. A small envelope fell near a net that the human used to frustrate the boneblights. As I rushed to retrieve it, one of the foul creatures saw and streaked towards me. I turned and ran straight towards it, knowing it couldn't turn that direction in mid-flight and hid under a wagon. The boneblight started crawling under the wagon just as the horses panicked and the wagon shot by overhead. The crunch of bone I heard turned out to be the boneblight, smashed by the wheels of the wagon. A dwarf helped me to my feet and lent me a horse to help fight the rest of the creatures, mistakenly thinking I had been helping the human fight them. I was lifted astride the horse, given the reins and suddenly the animal was off careening wildly through the docks completely out of my control, a mob from the docks following behind. Then the human with the package was suddenly ahead of me. As we drew near, he changed course and leaped from a crate behind me on the horse's back grabbing the reins. He headed the horse onto one of the wooden docks whipping him into a mad dash for the end of the pier. At the last minute, he gave the reins back to me, got his feet under him and threw himself toward the nearest ship, caught a yardarm an d pulled himself into the rigging. I felt the muscles in the horse bunch and release. We were out of dock and airborne over the water. Then, the ocean closed over us. I kicked free of the horse and swum to the surface, watching the human leap from ship to ship until he reached the one he was bound for. Turning to face the last of the Boneblights, he thrust a lighted lantern at it, turning it to fire, then turned and smiled at me as he waved farewell The bright glow of a lummin juice lantern and a cry from the docks got my attention. It was the mob, declaring me a hero and offering to pull me in from the ocean. Teeth chattering, I reached for the pole, only seeing the cudgel a moment before it descended on my head. When I woke, I was on the pirate ship.