Cold Tom

by Sally Prue

Book Overview

Proclaimed as "both original and gripping" by PW in a starred review, Sally Prue's remarkable fantasy debut launches in a bold paperback edition. "This one's a keeper!" Horn Book proclaims. Tom is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439482682
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

cold tom

the book that i am reading is called cold tom it is about a tribe of people that are elf-like creatures that have a normal temperature of below zero. The tribe lives on a place called the common it is mostly woods. The plot of the story is about tom one of the tribe who is left out all alone and is being hunted by his parents who want him dead because they think he is dangerous to the tribe . The conflict is that he is being held and protected at the same time and is getting sick at the and he relizes that not all humans are bad and becomes one himself

Chillingly Spirited

This book struck me as very original. Ms. Prue's depiction of elves is chilling--very unlike the "little people" we think of as elves, and even very different from the elves in Tolkien's works, who are learned and kind to humans. It's a side of fantasy we don't often see: The side that doesn't include scorcerers or mystical beasts or any of the sort of magic we'd recognise. The cold side. The side ruled by the Sidhe, the Irish elves, ice cold, indifferent, scornful. Far from the kind elves we know.

Talon's review

I thought Cold Tom is an easy book to read. The thing about the book is that there are no big words. An other thing about the book is that it's not long. I liked that people can be invisible and there are giants.

Tells of an elf who is cast away from his tribe

Sally Prue's Cold Tom tells of an elf who is cast away from his tribe and who flees to a city of hated demons with terrible houses and blaring demon voices, far from his world. For Tom is not wholly of either world, and his conflicts to fit in either will change both universes in this unusual fantasy.

A fascinating read for both adults and children

Tom and his kind are cold in more ways than just physically. When his Tribe sees him as a danger to them, it is his own parents whose job it is to hunt him down and kill him. And Tom knows they will do just that if they catch him. He has no place to hide but the city of the demons, a noisy, smelly place of fast chariots and houses piled cheek by jowl. The demons are clumsy and loud-voiced. But worst of all, in Tom's eyes, are the ties that bind them to each other, while he is wild and free and determined to remain so. Tom wants nothing to do with the demons but but has no choice but to accept the help offered by a girl demon if he is to stay alive. And just because he isn't interested in the demons, it doesn't follow that they are not interested in him.The quote on the English edition's cover from Michael Morpurgo suggests this was Sally Prue's first novel. On the back the words "original, fascinating, dark splendour, chilling, inventive, haunting, impressive, compelling" are splattered among a constellation of silver stars and I wouldn't like to argue with any of them. This is quite a short novel but it's beautifully written and packs a lot into its 136 pages, especially about the condition of being human.