Chapter 14

Matty tells Kira that he can fix her broken leg। She surprisingly turns down the offer, saying that her leg has become part of who she is. Matty tries to understand, and explains his gift to her. She tells him she can get along fine, and he would tire too much. Matty finally brings up the topic of leaving her home, and she tells him she will go. They get ready for the journey homeward. Kira uses her own special gift to look beyond Forest, into Village. She contacts Leader, and they begin their journey.

Chapter 12-13

Chapter 12 begins with Matty entering the dark, ominous forest. With Frolic at his side, he trudges through the muddy ground, stopping every once in a while to place bulletins up. Frolic was afraid of the dark, and whined slightly at night. Not wanting to eat Matty's fish, Frolic catches is own food and they gradually get out of Forest after light snowfall.
They get through Forest pretty fast and arrive at Kira's house to be welcomed warmly. Matty recalls when he had found that Kira was alive and told Seer, and because Kira is Seer's daughter, he was overjoyed. Seer was brought in secret to visit Kira, and after a short meeting, Kira promised to move to Village in a while. Kira has a crippled leg, and Matty realizes that his new power can be used to fix her leg.

Chapter 11

Matty goes to Leader to get the large envelope of bulletins to put up in Forest. He tries to see into the Forest through his special gift, but he says that he can't, Forest is thickening. Matty ponders this and goes to Ramon's house. When he gets there to say goodbye, someone tells him that Ramon and his sister are both very sick, and no-one is allowed in the house because the Herbalist said it could be an epidemic. Jean walks out with Matty to Forest, and they both notice Forest becoming more dark and foreboding. Matty prepares for his long journey with Frolic at his side.

Chapter ९-10

Matty is walking along, thinking about the petition to close Village. He sees one of the New Ones from the day before, and he greets her. She talks to him, telling him of her children who are not in Village, they were left behind to come later when a home was made for them in Village. She worries about her children getting into Village with the new petition.
In chapter 10, the debate and vote for the petition start. People come up one by one to voice their opinions. Many say stuff like "we can't supply them food", "they're so uncivilized", and "we don't have enough space". Seer speaks and tells of Matty, how Matty and Seer were saved from doom, how almost everyone was new once. His speech is received badly, and
after a lady screaming about how terrible Matty was, people start chanting to close the border. Sadly, the vote was decided, and the border would be closed in 2 weeks. Seer tells Matty that his daughter, Kira, must be informed that the border is closed so she can come before she is not allowed. Matty promises to tell her when he is posting bulletins informing of the closing of Village along Forest.

Chapter 8

Jean tells Matty that the puppy is ready to be taken.  Matty goes, and is greeted by the sight of Jean working in the garden, tending to her plants.  She starts talking to Matty, and immediately starts crying, then she tells him why Mentor is acting so strange.  After a little incomprehensible blabbering, she tells Matty her secret.  Mentor was slowly trading away the good part of himself to become more handsome.  He wants to start courting Stocktender's widow.  Stocktender was entangled, a term meaning wrapped and strangled by malicious vines in Forest.  After going back home to the puppy, Seer recommends that Matty go to Leader for the dogs name.  This works out in Matty's favor, because he needs to talk to Leader.  He goes to Leader, and he tells him of Mentor's trades, and warns him of other people trading away the best parts of themselves.  Leader is worried by this, and dismisses Matty after telling him the puppy's name, Frolic.

Chapter 7

Matty goes to the Trade Mart that night just to watch, because he has nothing that he would want to trade away.  He goes and stands by Mentor, who seems much brighter and happier.   They begin to talk, but Mentor goes silent when the Trade Mart starts.  He seems very solemn, and runs up to be the first to trade.  He gets onto the stage, but when he tells the Trademaster what he will trade away and what he wants for it, but the Trademaster gives him nothing. The trades go on in this manner,  people going up on the stage, they say something, Trademaster writes it down, and the leave.  Matty notices something when he's leaving.  Mentor's large birthmark has disappeared completely.

Chapter 6

In the beginning of chapter 6, Ramon runs by Matty to tell him of new arrivals to Village, simply called New Ones, another term lacking creativity. Matty runs to see, but the small crowd of New Ones is greeted by a group of chanting people led by Mentor, chanting for the unwelcome New Ones t be barred at the gate.  Leader, always the peaceful one, arrives and tries to welcome the crowd with open arms, and the New Ones are taken in and become part of the community. Matty begins thinking of Trade Mart, and decides he will go.

Chapter 5

Mentor's daughter, Jean, promises Matty one dog from a litter of three that her dog had.  Matty is thrilled because he hadn't had a loving companion since his small dog, Branch, died.  

The next day, Jean tells Matty that two of the puppies died the previous night. They became sick and died, leaving a sick mother and pup barely alive.  Matty asks to see, them, and goes into the house and see the two dogs hanging on to life like the frog's leg to it's body.   He starts to feel sad, seeing the two dying dogs, and puts his hand out to pet them.  As soon as he touches the puppy, he feels a jolt of pain in his fingers.  The two dogs immediately look lively and strong again, as they should have been.  Matty watches, feeling like curling up and sleeping for hours, suddenly exhausted.  He goes home and rests, recalling the frog that he healed.

Chapter 3-4

Matty starts by ranting off about how amazing his friend, Ramon's, gaming maching is.  A gaming machine is a toy that works like an arcade game.  You have to solve the puzzle, and it gives you a piece of candy.  Matty keeps talking about getting a game machine, and were he would put it,basically like a kid taking about an X-BOX or something like that.  My thoughts about this downgrading technology are that maybe the world ran out of power altogether, and nothing that used fuel was usable anymore.  Just a thought.  Matty gets intrigued to go to an event that happens every once in a while called a Trade Mart, the place where his friend got the gaming machine.  Seer warns him to be wary, and not to trade anything away.

In chapter 4,  Leader summons Matty to his quarters.  He tells Matty that he may have to deliver a number of messages in order to tell other towns that they are closing down.  He tells Matty that Mentor, the teacher, is working to get Village shut down to all other villages, forever stopping any form of communications or trade.  Mentor says this is because there is not enough food to feed all the newcomers arriving in Village. Matty doesn't understand, and concludes that something strange is happening in Village.   

Chapters 1-2

In the first chapter, the main characters were introduced. Matty, a young adult, lives in a slightly strange society. Without the numerous accounts of magic, things would be alot like a Native American village without war. The town is just called Village. Many other things follow the same simplicity, like the forest around Village is called Forest. The people of Village have slightly more creative names, like a teacher is called "Mentor". Still not stalwart creativity, but better than "Village".

The first couple chapters also hint Matty's power. He finds a frog not moving with a severed leg, only a few strands of tissue holding the dragging leg on. Matty wants to help the frog move without it's leg, so he picks it up and looks for a sharp stone to cut the tissue with. Magically, the frog jumps out of Matty's hand, using both legs to propel itself forward. Matty realizes that his own leg feels slightly weakened, but regains the energy after some rest.

Matty's parents died when he was young, and he lived in a horrible village, in which stealing, cheating, and lying were fine. He stole to stay alive, living with a gang of boys. He ran away to escape this, and arrives at Village, tired and wild. A blind man known for his special sight named Seer took Matty in and cared for him as a father would. Matty grows up to be much nicer and honest and smart.

Hello!

Hi! I'm Ryan, a middle school student who is reading Lois Lowry's book, "Messenger". I am reading it as part of a school project, and I'm getting really into it. I find Lois Lowry's style slightly confusing, but she has a good writing style overall. Check back for more posts later.