Below the Root

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Book Overview

Raamo, at thirteen, had rarely doubted the wisdom of the Ol-zhaan, the unquestioned rulers of the Green-Sky planet. Yet, after he had been chosen to become an Ol-zhaan, he made surprising discoveries... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440212669
• ISBN13: 9780440212669
• Release Date: July 1992
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf Library
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Secrecy is the root of tyranny

This is the outstanding introduction to the Greensky trilogy, a compelling philosophical exploration ingeniously disguised as a children's fantasy series. In the fantasy world of Greensky, the peaceful Kindar live in trees, read each others' minds, and glide from place to place with silken wings. Guided by their revered rulers, the Ol-Zhaan, the Kindar have nothing to fear... except for falling from their paradise and being forced to face the demons that lurk beneath the forest floor.In addition to providing a marvelous coming-of-age tale set in a wonderful new world, this book will provoke you to ponder and debate important questions about the nature of good and evil. Is it possible to eliminate violence from a society by segregating and repressing the passions? Should governments/priesthoods/scientists withold potentially dangerous knowledge from laypeople to protect them, and does this unshared power inevitably corrupt? Read this book with your kids!

To the green wood, green wood tree.

I suspect that I'm the only one who remembers this. In the early to mid 1980s I owned a Commodore 64 computer game (yes, I am that ancient and wise) called "Below the Root". In this game you could chose to be one of four players. A small boy named Raamo, a small girl named Pomma, a tall boy named Neric, or a tall girl named Genaa. The goal was to travel under the root, so to speak, to rescue a boy of great power. You had all sorts of cool powers, depending on which character you were. Some characters could pense people, thereby determining their emotions (hence I learned the word "avarice" at a very young age). Some could kiniport objects without touching them. Others could grunsprek, creating roots and plants that would allow you walk, virtually, on air. I loved the game and it was one of the few I actually won. Now, years and years later, I find that the basis of this favorite computer game was a well-written and infinitely entrancing novel of the same name. Authored by the accomplished Zilpha Keatley Snyder, the book speaks freely about the price of creating and maintaining a free society. Raamo is thirteen years old and lives happily in a land called Green-sky. His world is a society created in the tops of the trees. Here, people have fashioned a wonderful peaceful life for themselves, never engaging in violence or negative feelings of any kind. The only source of distress, in fact, comes from the evil Pash-shan that live below the surface of the earth below. Inhuman creatures that steal children and adults when they can, the Pash-shan are imprisoned in their lairs by a thick vine called the Wissenroot. Now Raamo has been given the chance to join the spiritual and governmental leaders of the land, named the Ol-zhaan. Fame and glory are his, but the intervention of a fellow Ol-zhaan named Neric throws everything Raamo thought he knew about his world into chaos. What if there is more to the Pash-shan than meets the eye? What activities do the Ol-zhaan really engage in? What are the secrets that seem to be destroying society as Raamo and his friends and family know it? And what is the price happiness? Beginning this book I was immediately struck from the outset on how similar it was, in many ways, to Lois Lowry's "The Giver". Both books are futuristic dystopian tales that focus on a boy learning that he is to be given a job of great importance. Through this job this boy learns that his society is not perfect in the least, and that he must personally work to change the way things are. But this book is also incredibly similar to H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine" too. In both cases we have the happy dwellers above the earth and the miserable dwellers below. Yet this book isn't like either of these novels at its heart. Instead, it is a truly original tales about a society that has taken extreme measures to maintain the serenity and innocence of its tree-dwelling population. The characters in this book are fully developed a

never lets you go

i have been searching fo the title of this book for three years. i read the whole trilogy when i was younger and it consumed me, and although i couldn't recall the titles of the books, i never forgot the characters and the amazing story. i shouldnt have been surprised when i finnally found the books, and reailzed the author was zilpha keatly-snyder. she is the most amazing and versatile writer of children's and young adult literature i have ever had the pleasure to read. i began reading her with > and have gone through almost every other book she has written, especially the superb <<black and blue magic>> and <<the egypt game>>. no other writer has combined fun, adventurous, sometimes-otherwordly plots with out being repetetive and telling the same story over and over again. i highly recommend this trilogy to everyone who loves to read, no matter what the age.<p>set in a mythical planet that shadows our own society, it is an amazing tale that captures the imagination without being complete sci-fi/fantasy. her use of forshadowing is amazing, keeping you held, but never giving away the ending as you watch the truth unfold.

Why I love Science Fiction (in 1000 words or less)

In seventh grade, I picked a book off of my teacher's shelf, expecting to be bored to tears. Instead, I got "Below the Root," the most complex and interesting story I had ever read. Its combination of intrigue and imagination made me realize that this genre was not reserved for geeks (those people I was desperately trying not to be one of). Ever since then I have been searching for this book and its sequels. Now that I have found them, I hope to discover in them that same intensity and magic I found years ago.

A utopia/dystopia of haunting haunting beauty and mystery

No book has ever captured my imagination as this book has. Set in a dreamlike utopia of giant forests and ghostlike flowers, it presents a tale of an escape war and suffering, and the shocking rediscovery of the past. Though told with the artistic efficacy of a childrens fairy tale, this book is much more. It deals with the consequences of ingorance, the ways in which our history affects our future and our minds, and raw human compassion. Though sadly never recognized for its complexity, the images and ideas from Below the Root both haunt and comfort me to this day. Do not mistake it for merely a childrens fairy tale, for this is story of great complexity. It is a surreal parable of our history.