Not the End of the World

By Geraldine McCaughrean

Book Overview

Winner of the Whitbread Children's Book Award A Carnegie Medal-winning AuthorEveryone knows the story of the Flood: Noah called upon by God to build an ark, the animals came on two by two, rain for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060760303
• ISBN13: 9780060760304
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 1.0" x 5.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

a different and witty view on Noah and the flood

I had bought this book for my grand-daughter (13), but after reading it and giving it to her, I also recommended it to her mother and my friends. It is the story of Noah and his family during the Flood, told by his daughter. She asks the questions that we want to be able to ask; and, throughout the book, runs a thread of "mother knew best" that is delightfully impertinent to the men of the family. LRG

Not the End of the World

If you're looking for a slavish retelling of the Bible story about Noah and the Flood, this book isn't for you. If you're hoping to read a book about pretty rainbows and obedient doves, this isn't for you. But if you want a story that will grip you from the beginning to the end with a realistic cast of human and animal characters, a plot that will keep you on the edge of your chair, and a setting that is both horrific and fascinating, then you must read this masterful book. Timna, Noah's daughter, is the main character and hero. What? You've never heard of her? Was she just another invisible woman from the Bible? Timna herself realizes the truth: " `Shem, Ham, and Japheth: sons of Noah.' They are the only ones who will be mentioned a hundred years from now when people tell our story. I know I won't figure" (p. 2). You must read until the very end to discover Timna's fate. Timna isn't the only narrator in this book. Her three brothers, their wives, her mother, and even some of the suffering animals tell the tale from their various points of view. Each voice is expressive; each voice has a different cadence and leads us to a deeper understanding of the catastrophe of the Flood. Interestingly, Noah does not tell his side of the story. The author portrays him as a religious fanatic, a monomaniac. She leads us to question whether he is as "blameless" as the Bible story would suggest. Almost all the people on the Ark are cast in an unflattering light. After all, Noah's family saved themselves while thousands of people drowned: "The water boiled with people. They were swimming, or clutching hold of logs, doors, cartwheels. Animals, too, were swimming among them--dogs and horses, cattle, goats. The sky was full of displaced birds, circling, circling, with nowhere to land" (p.11). However, the family's faults--large and small--make them seem more human. Not likeable, but human. McCaughrean tells this story through powerful language and imagery. The sensory world engulfs us. "Below us, in the bowels of the ship, along its entire length, beasts squealed and shrieked and keened, scrabbling with claws and talons and tails for some purchase on the rolling world . . . . Huge mounds of hot dung slid about the decking, dislodging small creatures in their path" (p.6). What did we expect? That all these animals would quietly behave themselves during the forty days and nights and all the claustrophobic days thereafter while they waited for the waters to recede? The Flood was not a pretty sight. Touches of humor and irony occasionally relieve the tragic events. Timna states: "No shortage of jobs for any of us. The end of the world is a busy time if you mean to outlive it" (p. 5). Without giving away the ending, let us say that some small hope sustains the survivors (and the reader). And perhaps even a grain of faith. In our time of natural disasters--hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes--the ancient story of Noah and the flood hits uncomfortably close to

book review

The tidal wave came, and just as soon as it came, it passed. Timna, and her father Noah, her mother Ama, her brothers Japheth, Shem, Ham, their wives Zillah, Bashemath, Sarai, the baby adalya, the boy Kittim, and his baby sister. It was the time of the flood. God send the flood of forty days and forty nights to clean the earth. God send Noah a vision to build an ark to carry his family and two of each animal until the flood ends. After the flood, they were to repopulate the earth. Timna was shocked to see all the dying people that they couldn't help because God told them not to. It would ruin his plans, but Timna kept having a feeling of regret and wondering why God did this. She found a boy and a baby hanging from a tree. She could stand no longer to witness them die innocently. She hid them with the animals, without her parents knowing. Timna kept believing he was a demon and thought he was the one who caught the ark on fire, but then realized if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't know about it. She kept trying to believed that he, too, was a part of God's plans. Japheth's wife, Zillah, was very reluctant to marry Japheth, and was angry at the family for kidnapping her and not saving her family. They kept trying to tell her that she was lucky and should be thankful that God decided to spare her life, among many others. Bashemath, Shem's wife, delivered a baby while on the ark. It was a girl named Adalya. Shortly after it was born, it was killed by a mink, and Timna gave her Kittim's baby sister and Bashemath was very greatful. Once, Kittim and his sister, and Zillah, had a chance to swim to another boat, to safety from being killed for being thought of as devils. But Kittim refused to go without Timna, his best, and only, friend. Soon before the flood was over, Kittim was almost found, but Timna lied to her brothers and told them that she was the demon. The were about to drown her in the flood with the other demons, but her mom stepped up and said she should be the one to, since she brought Timna in this world. But instead, she sends her and Kittim away on a raft to survive. This book was very exciting. It made me never want to stop or put the book down. I look forward to reading other books by McCaughrean. I deffinetely recommend this sad, true story of Noah's ark. L. Dessoffy

Need Read

Every teenager raised in a religious world, whether you're christian, jewish, or anything for that matter, should take a day to sit down and read this book. I myself am a huge fan of religiously themed books, and when I picked this one up at the library I wasn't expecting what I got. Luckily the book is very quick read and I feel it is intended for those mature enough to understand death and religious themes, probably 15+ though I am sure some exceptions can be made. It is interesting to view Noah's Ark in a different light as we are all so used to the Christian happy story of people and animals living harmoniosly* in a boat for a few days... with sunshine and all that jazz, but this puts a very real spin on the everyday tale puts it in the perspective the way I feel the story was meant to be told, even though not completely factual. I suggest this book to anyone who is interested in religion or raised religiously and wants to delve deeper into their origins.

An attack on fundamentalism

Noah is a religious fanatic who believes that it is God's will that everyone in the world but his family must die in the Great Flood. His ideological blinders are so great that he is prepared to murder his own daughter, and he and his sons attack the drowning people who seek shelter in their ark, rationalizing their actions as fulfilling God's plan. Noah's wife and daughter gradually come to the realization that the voices talking to Noah are solely in his own head, and work together to save the daughter and a stowaway on the ark from Noah's wrath. In an era where one of the leading causes of human suffering is religious fundamentalism, this book's message for children is that religious fanaticism and ideologies of all stripes blind us to our common humanity and lead us into disaster. The book was the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year in 2004, which is probably Great Britain's most prestigious children's book award.