North and the Only One by Vashti Hardy

Vashti Hardy has done it again – combining STEM and a futuristic vision with a heartfelt story that leaves readers thinking long after the book is closed. Yet North and the Only One is a completely unique story. It feels different from Vashti’s other adventures. With so much emotion and so much unknown, readers become a part of Rose’s search for truth.

When 12 year-old Rose woke up 14 days ago, she could not remember anything that came before. It was like she was living in a dream – or was she a ghost, or even just a memory? Filled with questions, she longs for Mother to explain what’s happened. How long has she been asleep? What caused the scar on her head? Why does she feel lost in her own home? Her only comfort is her puppy, North.

Little by little, pieces of Rose’s past come to her in dreams. She’s walking among the trees – there’s a forest, maybe home. Nothing like the city she finds herself in. Then, one morning, Rose makes the most surprising discovery. Her mother is a humanoid robot!

Rose and North run towards the only truth she can fathom. She needs to go to the forest and try to find other humans. They must be out there. As she moves through the city of Luminelle, she discovers a political system based on fear and control. They teach the “Absolute Truth” in a world where humans have been wiped out by their own greed and selfishness. War, misuse of technology and disregard for resources created a world where only robots with “alternative intelligence” could thrive. Rose is different and alone. Wanted only for her “humanness”, she needs to get away. Her very existence is a threat to this new way of life.

North and the Only One highlights the power of girls, even when faced with the strangest of lands. Like Alice in Wonderland, Rose comes across the most amazing creatures. Who can she trust – the holographic tour guide mouse or the charming fox and rabbit droids who work for a travelling theatre? Will any of them lead her to family or home?

As she travels from the city of Luminelle, to the wasteland of the Iron Wilderness towads the Forest, Rose learns it is the power of stories that connect us to each other and to the past. They are what make us human and reveal our truth. A strong message of protecting our most precious resource, the Earth, challenges readers to think about what they value most and what they want their own story to be.

Thank you to Scholastic for an early copy of this wonderful book!

Also by Vashti Hardy for older readers: