ROWAN OF RIN

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Australian national Emily Rodda's classic ROWAN OF RIN, which won the Children's Book Council of Australia's award for Book of the Year, has finally reached US shores by way of HarperCollins' genre-friendly imprint Greenwillow Books, a children's publisher. The novel is well loved by children down under, but for nearly a decade it was never picked up for export. Perhaps thanks to the Harry Potter craze, stateside publishers seem to be looking much more closely at foreign children's fantasy fictionas well they should. It's unfortunate that a whole slate of US elementary students have graduated into middle school with having been able to check out this imaginative coming-of-age story.

The book centers on a little boy named Rowan, who is so different from the others that he avoids contact with his peers and with everyone else in the village. He is only half descended from village folk, his deceased father having been a nomad. He doesn't look like the others, he's socially awkward, and almost terminally shy. He prefers spending time taking care of the village's livestock. He considers the animals to be his friends.

Rowan's small village is called Rin. As the story opens, the citizens of Rin are panicked by their sudden lack of a water supply. The river that runs down to Rin from the mountain above them seems to have simply stopped flowing. Without the influx of new water the town's well will soon dry and all the livestock will die. The village assembles to discuss the crisis and it's resolved that a party must be sent up the mountain to investigate, despite the legends that dangerous creatures, such as dragons, guard the top. The party first consults the local mystic, Sheba, hoping that she will have arcane knowledge that could help them on the journey.

The seemingly senile Sheba gives the travelers a map, but uses her magic to bind the map to Rowan. The villagers, who scorn the shy boy, are forced to bring him along on the dangerous mountain trip, so that they can use the map. The shy, easily frightened Rowan must force himself to become brave in order to save his family. It isn't long before the travelers are glad that they have him along.

As Harry Potter definitively proved, children's fantasy tends to have a strong adult crossover audience. Maybe it's the fact that fairy tales are so timeless, but no matter the reason, many supposed grown-ups have shared the 'guilty pleasure' of roaming the children's section. ROWAN OF RIN is a good choice for those readers. While few novels, if any, will ever have the adult readability of something like HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, ROWAN does come close.

ROWAN OF RIN

Grade: B+

Author(s): Emily Rodda

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Price: $14.95