Clearly Sci-Fi: Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar
Imagine a world where a scientist can invent something that grows so fast, and takes over and escapes into the wild. Imagine taking a secret short cut and encountering this fast growing mud…Welcome to Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar.
Synopsis: Tamaya and Marshall are school friends who walk home together every day, and have for the last three years. Tamaya is a girl who never wants to do anything wrong. But one day, Tamaya and Marshall decide to take a forbidden shortcut through the woods, in order to avoid Marshall getting into a fight with the school bully, Chad Wilson. Eventually, Tamaya and Marshall are lost. The two friends stumble upon a pool…gooey muck with fuzzy yellow scum on top. When Chad catches up with them, it makes a great weapon to shove in Chad’s face when Chad tries to attack them. That evening, Tamaya notices a rash on her hands. Eventually Chad and Marshall become sick as well. Secret Senate hearings reveal that scientists have been exploring Biolene, an alternative to gasoline utilizing synthetic, high-energy microorganisms. While the risk of mutations was initially considered minimal, Tamaya and Marshall’s walk in the woods has resulted in their entire Pennsylvania town being placed under quarantine due to a spreading epidemic. The children were hospitalized, and were under the care of doctors until a cure was found.Consequently, airport and railroad stations were closed, and the Pennsylvania National Guard was mobilized. This fuzzy scum became known as “Fuzzy Mud”.
My Takeaways: The book seemed to be lacking in details, but the science fiction aspects of the story were very engaging. The story moved along quickly, and I appreciated reading the epilogue and finding out that as a result of the testimony of Tamaya, Biolene was still used, but with extra safety precautions in place. Overall, the story moved well but I did not feel invested in the characters. To find out more about this story visit Fuzzy Mud/Goodreads.
Comments
Post a Comment