It took me a few chapters to get into the writing style of this book, which drops the reader into a story already in progress with no explanation about anything that happened before. It seems to be set in the near future in a parched African country, unnamed. We alternately follow two characters. Sarel, a girl whose parents have been murdered is trying to survive alone in the desert, with a pack of dogs that her father owned. Musa is a boy with a gift for divining water, who is held as a slave by a gang, who wants to control the water. Musa escapes, and eventually wanders to the homestead where Sarel is struggling. Together they try to survive, find water, and not be found by the gang members who want to get Musa back.
In spite of all the critical acclaim on the back of the book, I found this a well written, but fairly simple story, without enough plot to stand up as a great book. It was also dreadfully depressing. ( )

Sarael's parents are killed and she is left to survive by herself and the only company she has is her dog Nandi. A boy , Musa, is another character and the story switches from Nadi, Musa and Sarael's perspective. This makes the book a little hard to follow and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Musa has the special ability to find water and he had to escape from thugs who treated him abusively and kept him enslaved for his ability to find water. Musa escapes his captures and joins Sarel and Nandi. It is an contemporary survival story with an exciting ending. I think this would be a terrific curriculum piece for the science of water conservation and the water cycle.

I loved every part of this book... but the ending. The last part of the story just felt rushed to me, and surprisingly disjointed from the rest of the book.

Not to mention that it was something of a downer. [I've got two middle-schoolers (okay, one is going to be one next term) and I know they would get dragged low by how things worked out. They're still at the stage where they like happy endings.]

That said, I am so impressed with Crowder's wordsmithing. PARCHED deserves much praise for the author's word choice and ability to evoke a feeling and sense of place. You will feel thirsty. You will feel like you are roasting under a boiling sun.

**SPOILERS** **SPOILERS**

PARCHED is written at the mid-5th Grade level and it's definitely Cli-fi (climate based fiction), which might make it a good choice for English teachers looking for an alternative to OLD YELLER and WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. (You know, books where the dog dies)

**END SPOILERS** **SPOILERS END**

There is no graphic violence, and no cursing. The dark tone and interesting story line should appeal to Young Adults as well as middle-schoolers. In fact, it might appeal more to the YA crowd as the pacing is not always quick.

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rec'vd as ARC ( )

A compelling debut novel that titillatingly straddles a line between fantasy and reality and should prompt mmany questions and much discussion. ( )