This week's title: The Silent One
Author: Joy Cowley
Publisher: Penguin Books, $9.95
Illustrator: Colin Edgerley
Age group: 8-13 years
On the day of the pig hunt, Jonasi went out on the reef.
No one saw him leave the village. He ran through the trees to the beach where his bamboo raft lay, and as
he dragged it along the white sand, water flooded his eyes. The sun melted and ran down the sky, and the coconut palms along the shore trembled as though in a strong wind.
Jonasi bent his head and wiped his face on his arm. He pushed the raft into the water, lying on top of it, kneeling, finally sitting with the paddle in his hand. He headed for the edge of the reef.
Beside him lay his new spear, a length of hardwood he'd cut from a raintree, carved, shaped, and polished until he'd come to know it as a friend. It was the best spear he'd ever made, and he knew from the way the other boys looked at it that they envied him. It was far better than the spear Samu had carved, better even than Aesake's, a weapon as delicately balanced as a leaf on water, yet as powerful as lightning.
Now Jonasi looked at it with hate.
He was twelve, he was strong, and he had made himself a spear fit for a chief. Why, then, had they refused him his first pig hunt?
He looked back at the shore and the thatched bures clustered under the palms. With the men away, the village was wrapped in stillness, the beach empty except for a scavenging dog.
Tomorrow: Jonasi waits for his turn.
