Fairy tale like story, originally written in Icelandic. Reminds me strongly of The Phantom Tollbooth -- not so much in the math, but in the voice -- fantastical without being fantasy, moralistic, kid-centered adventure. Something deeply imaginative to read as a bed-time story, where the kids are the agents of all that is bad or good, and where they solve their own problems with compassion and kindness. I would have enjoyed this story as a child, but I'm not sure what modern kids would think about it. ( )

The NY Times made this sound better than it was. Brimir and Hulda are close friends living on a small world where there are only children and no adults. Everything seems fine until an adult arrives via a spaceship and changes the dynamics of the place, causing wants and deprivations that never previously existed. When things get really bad, Brimir outwits the adult, playing to his own vanity. ( )

The Blue Planet is a planet full of children that never grew up. Only children - and plants and animals- live on the planet. The children are wild and do what they want. Once a year a cave full of sleeping butterflies would awaken and circle the entire planet in a day. It was the happiest day in the year.
One day a grown-up, in a spaceship, lands on a small island on the blue planet. He convinces the children on the island that they are bored. He shows them how to have fun all the time if they pay him a bit of their youth. The children discover that their fun is hurting children on the other side of the planet. They refuse to go back to being bored until one of the children volunteers to sacrifice his heart to fix the situation.
This is a story about how all our actions have consequences; for ourselves, for others, and for the planet. ( )

Personal Summary:
An adventurous journey into the ills of consumerism. The protagonists, Hulda and Brimir, who lived happy, full lives before the mysterious man in the spacecraft arrives, find themselves falling for his marketing tricks. After seeing and understanding the harm that they are doing to the planet and others inhabiting the planet, they begin to work in a counter-hegemonic fashion.

Curricular or Programming Connections:
An superbly written story to encourage young readers, and adults, to consider their consumption habits and the implications those habits have on the environment and other people in the world. An excellent example - though fictional - for showing how everything is connected. ( )