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Gr 6-9 This unusual debut novel is a fantasy set in the modern day. Teenaged Medford Runyuin has never really felt accepted by the island community where he's been raised. Orphaned after his parents drowned, he's being raised by Boyce, a wood-carver, and is training to follow his trade. Even though they trade with the Mainland for necessities, the community is self-sufficient and disdainful of technology. Its residents only name or create useful things, and their surnames denote what they do, like Baker or Tailor. When their children reach...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In this quirky, gentle fable sure to have wide appeal, Booraem depicts a repressive, orderly Island society to which thirteen-year-old Medford Runyuin, a shipwrecked orphan, has had to adapt despite the many ways in which he doesn't belong. His meaningless name sets him apart from a community of people named for their trades; even more troubling and isolating is his urge to "waste time" by carving playfu...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Thirteen-year-old Medford Runyuin lives in an Island society that values Usefulness only. Self-expression is an abomination--until the Go...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

“But beware Useless conversation with foreigners, for the Unnameable hovers nearby.” The quote is taken from A Frugall Compendium of Home Arts and Farme Chores by Capability C. Craft, as Amended and Annotated by the Island Council of Names, a fictional book that serves as the law of the island. The community that adheres to its teachings refers to it simply as the Book. While the laws articulated by the Book are secular, the culture and language of the island in Ellen Booraem’s The Unnameables ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More