Welcome to the Ark

Stephanie S. Tolan (author)

HarperCollins Chns Books, USA: 1996; 250pp

ISBN: 0380733196

Note: extension concepts

Genre: science fiction

Issues: bullying, friendship, gifted, relationships, sensitivity, social condition, violence

Set in the very near future, from 2000 to 2008, it is the story of four very remarkable children. All are exceptionally gifted and, with their high intelligence, endure the pain of hypersensitivities.

There is Miranda, a very public figure at sixteen, whose early and ongoing gift with languages has led her to claim that she is an alien in the world around her. Unfortunately her statement of isolation, in combination with certain other rebellious acts, is taken the wrong way by her parents and she is committed to a children's psychiatric clinic. There is Doug, whose hatred of the culture of violence and hunting in his community first leads him to destroy things around him, and then attempt to destroy himself. His genius with computers and his tremendous musical gifts have been ignored, belittled and bullied, until he, too, finds himself admitted to the Laurel Mountain Center for Research and Rehabilitation.

There they meet Taryn, a supremely sensitive child who feels strong emotional connections to the natural environment and the creatures that inhabit it. She was admitted to Laurel Mountain by her aunt, after the death of her mother, who had created a religious cult around her daughter's ability to read the emotional needs of others, to heal and communicate telepathically. There is also Elijah, who has been diagnosed with autism, but whose lack of interaction with others in fact stems from a fear of losing those he loves, as he has lost his mother and grandmother. The intensity, intelligence, sensitivity and communicative abilities of these four children are the focus of this remarkable novel.

Rather than a sequential narrative, this is very much an exploration of the emotional pain endured by those whose imagination, intelligence and sensitivity mean that they are ‘skinless' in a world that expects its inhabitants to be tough. For different reasons, each child has decided that complete withdrawal is the only way to protect themselves from the world that can destroy them so easily. When they are brought together, however, they realise that, if they can believe in and support one another, they have the capacity to change the world in a remarkable way; that they may even be able to stop the horrendous violence that is engulfing the world.

The superficial narrative is about control of that giftedness, as a dominant and power-hungry adult who finds the children very threatening, seeks to use them for his own self-promotion. While the gifted children and the adults who help them are portrayed very sympathetically, the psychiatrist who runs the centre is quite two-dimensional by comparison in a way that is not entirely convincing. It is not simply that Dr Hallan does not have the same sensitivities as the gifted children. He becomes quite a violent, evil character who acts completely against professional ethics in a way that seems quite unlikely for a man so obsessed with his own reputation and the profile of his clinic.

Another weakness of the novel is that when the children are separated and leave the clinic after a particular incident, the narrative jumps eight years. Having carefully set up a situation that demonstrates how very clearly gifted individuals need contact with other gifted and sensitive individuals, and how difficult it is for highly sensitive personalities to live in a world that is so often dominated by violence, politics, power struggles and environmental degradation, she then fails to demonstrate how her characters survive without one another. This is covered by the use of the phrase ‘screensaver mode', something the children discuss briefly at one point in the novel - a suggestion that by shutting down their emotional connections and sensitivities, they can survive, although it doesn't count as living.

It is very rare to find a novel that takes as its main theme, rather than a subtext, the concept of profound giftedness. It is even rarer to find one that portrays that giftedness in a positive, rather than from a denigrating or fearful perspective. It is therefore disappointing to find so much omitted from this otherwise exceptional novel.

Highly recommended, nevertheless, especially for gifted individuals.

Sequel: Flight of the Raven

Recommended parallel reading: A Cage of Butterflies by Brian Caswell; Dreamslip by Brian Caswell

About The Author:

"Stephanie Tolan is also well-known as an advocate for extremely bright children. She co-authored the award-winning non-fiction book, Guiding the Gifted Child, and has written many articles about the challenges gifted "asynchronous" children and adults face as they find a way to fit into their world. She lectures throughout the country to audiences of parents, educators and counselors attempting to find ways to meet the children's needs. Her experiences with these "amazing, off-the-charts" young people inspired the themes of Welcome to the Ark and Flight of the Raven." From http://www.harperchildrens.com/catalog/guide_xml.asp?isbn=0380733196