The Daily Campus

Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Ashley Pospisil Author Allegra Goodman read before an audience in Konover Auditorium Thursday from her sixth book, 'The Other Side of the Island.'

"All this happened many years ago, before the streets were air conditioned. Children played outside then, and in many places, the sky was still naturally blue," read Allegra Goodman from her sixth book, "The Other Side of the Island," to students, faculty and fans that gathered Thursday night at the Thomas J. Dodd Center.

She explained to the audience that the first line of "The Other Side of the Island" came to her when she sought out refuge from a hot and humid day in her living room and thinking to herself, "if only the streets were air-conditioned."

This thought led Goodman to create a dystopian world where a young girl named Honor and her family have to conform to a world created and controlled by Earth Mother, who has enclosed the lands to protect the inhabitants from weird weather patterns.

After writing five books aimed toward adults, she chose to address children in her newest book, a new venture for her. Though writing for a younger audience, she still incorporated themes from her previous books such as family, rituals, religion and generational differences, while bringing in the new themes of censorship, global warming, individuality and power.

"The ideas in this book are just as sophisticated as my other books. I don't feel like I am talking down to the reader although the language is simpler," said Goodman when asked if she took a different stylistic direction in style because it was a book aimed for a younger audience.

She shared a bit about her year-and-a-half process of creating this new world where she twisted the familiar, the safe and the comforting. "I made about two or three major revisions on my own and two or three more with my editor. I had to be meticulous," said Goodman.

"I was quite interested in how she created this new world and how she decided what to cut out and what to include," said Alex Thompson, a 7th-semester English major.

While many enjoyed hearing about the process of how she created such a complex world for a young audience, others found listening to Goodman read the first couple pages to be the most interesting part of the evening. Many chuckled when they heard Goodman read and impersonate the voices of the characters she created.

"It was nice to hear her read in her own voice," said Alyson Bevins 7th semester English and psychology major.

After the reading and questions, guests lined up patiently to have their copy of "The Other Side of the Island" signed by Goodman.

While her children said it was a "pretty good" book, the Washington Post and various others have claimed Goodman's first children's book as the Best Children's Book of 2008.

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