In Stephanie S. Tolan’s Welcome to the Ark,
it is the task of four gifted children to bring peace to a violent world. Outcasts as individuals, the four learn how
powerfully they can work together as one–for good or evil. Tolan uses the
metaphor of a lion to represent the free-floating violence the children must
face. United through clasped hands and
linked minds, the group can embrace the lion and tame it through peace, or
control the lion and direct its violence outward. As the group members debate the best use of their powers, the
psychiatrist overseeing them plans their downfall for his own murky purposes.

Tolan depicts a frightening time a few years in the
future where extreme violence is common worldwide and the United States is
fighting a guerilla war against militia groups. The group of four shares these dark visions and receives
minute-by-minute news updates of bloody world events.

Welcome to the Ark is beautifully written, intense, and well
characterized. However, Tolan undercuts
the drama with the device of the evil doctor who splits the group and destroys
its power. His motives are never clear,
and he is presented as more laughable than frightening, a bumbling bureaucrat
compared to the truly terrifying world events the book seems poised to
address.

© 2002 Catherine Atkins

Catherine Atkins
is a writer and teacher from Northern California

Categories: Children