First Light by Rebecca Stead

First Light is written by Rebecca Stead.  She also wrote When You Reach Me, which was the Newbery Medal Winner in 2010.  This is the second of Stead's books that I have read and I enjoyed both of them immensely.  This is another adventurous tale with magical elements.  One of the main character's Peter, is a young boy who goes to Greenland, a land of snow and ice.  Peter's scientific parents are studying the effects of global warming.  At first, the book seems to be about this rather ordinary topic, but then Stead introduces Thea, who we learn lives beneath the surface of ice in Greenland with her people.  Why they are there, and why their existence is a secret, is something you will have to read the book to find out!  Does it have anything to do with what is wrong with Peter?  Why does his vision keep wavering, and why does he keep passing out?

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro