Tuesday, August 8, 2017

The Daily Booktalk: Teen Tuesday: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater


The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. 416 p. Scholastic Inc., October, 2011. 9780545224901.

Teen Tuesday features one of my favorite books, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. It's a dual narrative set on the fictional island of Thisby, off the coast of Ireland. Capaill uisce (cup-all  ish-ka) or water horses live in the ocean off the coast of Thisby. These fierce man-eating beasts are very hard to tame but Sean Kendrick has a gift with both horses and the capaill uisce. In fact, he has won the famed Scorpio Races for the past four years. This is a race held every November and the winner earns fame and fortune. Unfortunately, the losers often lose their lives. This year, Puck, a seventeen-year-old orphan, desperate to save her family home, enters the race with her land horse, Dove. The superstitious islanders are outraged because no girl has ever entered and riding a land horse means she has little chance of surviving. The story starts out a bit slow but both narrators reveal compelling stories and the island and water horses work their magic. It's an exceptional story and a superb audiobook as the two narrators are Irish and pronounce the Irish words fluidly. Additionally, the music in the audiobook was written and composed by the multi-talented author who is also an artist. 

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