Green-Sky: Below the Root

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

It was a little over a year ago when a classmate in an online class recommended this book to me. After a few months of searching, I finally found it and it's two sequels.

And then they sat on my shelf for months.

Finally, I'm trying to catch up on some old books and I pulled these out. I'm glad I did. While the book is from the 70s it could very well have been written much more recently. The themes and genres are ones that are recently seeing a resurgence in YA literature: dystopian, alternate worlds, and post-apocalyptic to name a few.

The story takes place in the world of Green-Sky - a planet similar to Earth except for the abundance of large trees where the Kindar people make their homes, and a gravity much less severe than Earth's. The Kindars are a peaceful people, who live in harmony high in the trees while the sinister Pash-shan live below the root on the forest floor. Kindars are taught from birth to fear the Pash-shan, so when young Raamo is Chosen to become one of the revered elders of their society who protect the people from the Pash-Shan, he is eager to learn. However, in his studies as an Ol-zhaan, Raamo begins to discover that things aren't what they seemed, and there is much more to the Pash-shan than the Kindars know. Together with his new friends Neric and Genaa, Raamo must discover the truth and save Green-Sky from the true evil they face.