341 p. (Gr.8+).The Mac family gathers to celebrate Bornday with a cookout every year- the shared birthday of the four cousins, Atlas, Mika, Jason And Pansy, as well as the birthday of the family matriarch, Grannylou. Every Bornday, Grannylou tells stories of The Great Dismal Swamp, just yards from her front door; she speaks of the animals and people whose lives are connected with it. But no one talks about the Swamps mysterious magic. But this Bornday, everything is about to change. Atlas and her cousins turn 19, and Grannylou disappears into the Swamp. Because there is more to the Dismal Swamp, and more to Grannylou, than anyone has realized. Grannylou was once known as Babylou, when she was enslaved with her family on the Sitter planation in North Carolina in the 1700s. The Dismal took Babylou and her kin in and imbued them with remarkable powers. It has also slowed her aging for three hundred years. Now, the Swamp is calling Babylou back, and beckoning the cousins in, to right the wrongs of the past and rebuild connections to the present.
Under the Heron's Light is a lyrical, magical, and exquisitely written novel about identity, family lineage and history, purpose, and the connection between environment and people. The voice of the Great Dismal Swamp is singing throughout this novel- but will it sing its song for you?
Every month the SCCLD Teen Librarians choose one book as a great read from the library's Teen collection. This is the list of the latest picks of the month.
