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Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-- The last book of a science-fiction trilogy about four-inch beings who were stranded when their scout ship crashed to earth 15,000 years ago. Truckers (1990) introduced Masklin, leader of a dwindling band of nomes hunting among the hedgerows in modern England. Completely ignorant of their origins, they are guided by a small black box they call "The Thing," which turns out to be a very powerful computer. In Diggers (1991, both Delacorte), they join a group of department-store nomes to live in a quarry. In this last installment, Masklin and friends sneak aboard the Concorde and head for Florida. Their mission: to place The Thing on a communications satellite so it can rouse their waiting mother ship. Nomes are foolishly courageous, companionable, literal and innocent creatures whose repeated misunderstandings confirm readers' sense of smug superiority. The bad puns generated by their mistakes in language may amuse some readers but annoy others. Neither as complex nor interesting as Mary Norton's "Borrowers" (Harcourt) or the Lilliputians of T. H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose (Berkley, 1984), Pratchett's creatures enact a blatantly obvious parable of broadening horizons. Yet the conversational style and fast-moving plot make this cheerful, unpretentious tale useful where there is a need for accessible science fiction, or where the previous volumes have been enjoyed.
- Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
In book three of the ``Bromeliad,'' the nomes recover their spaceship and leave Earth. At the end of Diggers (p. 109), Gemma and the other nomes, trapped in a quarry surrounded by hostile humans, were saved by the appearance of an enormous spaceship. Wings is a flashback in which Masklin, Grunder, and Angalo sneak aboard a Concorde bound from London to Miami and make their way to within hailing distance of the space shuttle so that Thing can subvert its communication ports to summon their spaceship, which has been stored on the moon for thousands of years. In the process, they meet a band of wild nomes and are told that the world harbors thousands more. Gemma and Masklin leave for the stars; Grunder stays behind to communicate with humans and the other nomes. There is something a bit affected about naming a series after an orchid that harbors a colony of tiny frogs that leave their flower only when they outgrow it. Norton's Borrowers were entrancing, resourceful, and convincing; in comparison, nomes are naive, clumsy, and unlikely. Wings is resolutely earthbound, and while Pratchett can be wildly funny in his adult books, he seems tentative here. Still, young readers who liked the earlier volumes will want to read this one. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious WINGS,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wings (Paperback)
My Dad has been reading Terry Pratchett books and he thought I'd like this one. He was right! You should read this book , because it is very funny and exciting. The book is about three nomes that got stuck on Earth and need to take a space shuttle home. The nomes get a lot of useful help from Thing, a machine. But too bad when Thing runs out of "pow" (power)!I don't have the first two books from this trilogy but I am getting them next!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not only very funny, but very intelligent as well.,
By Stephanie Noverraz "crooty" (Lausanne, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wings (Paperback)
Wings is the third and final volume of the Bromeliad (following Truckers and Diggers).Masklin, Gurder and Angalo have just left the quarry and are heading to the airport in hope to go to Florida, where they can put the Thing on a space shuttle so that it can call the Ship. Following Grandson Richard, 39, they board the Concorde. What somewhat surprised me with Wings is that it's not only the conclusion to a tremendous adventure: the story really gets a level deeper, as the relationship between the nomes and the Thing develops. And don't worry, you still get those hilarious puns such as the one about frogs who have "such a tiny life cycle it still had trainer wheels on it"! The Bromeliad trilogy is a gripping story, extremely funny and easy to read, but it's also a story about how the world around you can always amaze you if you only look a bit further than just at your direct neighbourhood. I highly recommend it to both children and grown-ups alike!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A triumph for nome-kind!,
By
This review is from: Wings (Hardcover)
In Diggers, the nomes living in a quarry found themselves besieged by humans. In the end, Masklin rescued them with nothing short of a miracle. This book is the story of that miracle.This book is so funny that I often found myself laughing out loud while reading it. Not only that, the action is gripping, and the ending is touching. This book is a wonderful buy.
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