In Best of All Worlds, Printz Honor-winning author Kenneth Oppel (The Nest) delivers an inventive, dramatic work of speculative fiction about accepting uncertainty and surviving change.
Thirteen-year-old Xavier Oak reluctantly joins his father and pregnant stepmother on a trip to the family cottage. The next morning, Zay wakes to discover that the cottage is no longer lakeside but situated on rolling pastures with crops and livestock. Trial and error suggest the Oaks are trapped in a dome with advanced technology. The Oaks slowly learn to homestead and provide for themselves--until three years later, when the Jackson family arrives.
Oppel grounds the novel's surreal elements in its well-wrought characters. Zay's first-person narration is immensely relatable as he mourns the loss of life as he knew it and bears life as it is. Oppel brilliantly withholds confirming the truth until the novel's crucial climax, ensuring readers will race through the chapters to Oppel's expert landing of a close. An excellent read-alike for fans of Neal Shusterman and Gary Paulsen. --Cristina Iannarino, children's book buyer, Books on the Square, Providence, R.I.