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From Amazon
First published in 1980, The Keeper of the Isis Light is now recognized as one of the most important works of Canadian speculative fiction for young readers. The first volume in Monica Hughes's Isis trilogy, it tells the story of 16-year-old Olwen Pendennis, the "keeper" of a communication satellite on Isis, an uninhabited planet with a harsh and unfriendly environment. On the eve of her 16th birthday, in the midst of a celebratory dinner prepared by her robot mentor and only companion, Guardian, Olwen receives a signal from Earth informing her that 80 settlers will shortly be arriving to colonize the planet. Nervous at the thought of her home being overrun by the settlers, and fearful of the changes their arrival will mean to her life, Olwen is, however, unprepared to be shunned and ostracized by the colonists, who see her as little less than a monster. In one of the book's most singularly dramatic moments, Hughes reveals that in order to protect Olwen from Isis's environment, Guardian took it upon himself to "modify" her: he toughened her skin to withstand UV rays and added an extra eyelid to protect her eyes from the sun, deepened her rib cage and widened her nostrils to help her breathe, strengthened her ankles and thickened her fingernails to help her better negotiate Isis's rugged and rocky terrain, and, perhaps most distressing of all to the settlers, altered her metabolism and changed her skin colour for protection from poisonous plants and insects. Olwen tries to make friends with the colonists, but they are unable to accept her as she is and, ultimately, she decides to withdraw from any further contact with them. Keeper is an exciting and thought-provoking novel that is as relevant today as when it was written more than two decades ago. For the many readers who will want to know what happens next, Olwen's story continues in The Guardian of Isis and The Isis Pedlar. (Ages 10 and older) --Jeffrey Canton
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