When you think about entertainment for kids in 2024, I think most of us would automatically think about video games, YouTube, or something that same vein. Even when it comes to books, the majority of the offers for young people are graphic novels. No surprise there, as they are quite popular. In fact, my son often leaves our public library with 4-5 Dogman or Captain Underpants books. My husband and I are never thrilled about this, but at least he is reading.
When we received a book in the mail, my son initially did not seem super excited about it. The title ‘Habilis: The Aura Seed‘ does not involve toilet humor or have splashy characters on the front of it. So it sat on our counter for more than a week untouched.
Great for Nighttime Reading
One night, my husband grabbed it for our bedtime readings, which are short amounts of time, but we have been trying to incorporate more chapter books into the mix. My son is now 8, and can fully read these books on his own, but still loves our night time tradition.
It took nearly a week to finish the book, with my husband reading it out loud to our son in bed. I can tell you it was probably only the second time in my life I heard my son beg for more time so he can find out what happens. The book is well-written, well-paced, and really taps into something primal for the young mind. A mind that still has a tremendous amount of imagination and a need for story-telling.
Habilis: The Aura Seed is an adventurous tale about two characters, Wilem and Remik, who are on a journey to save their world. It’s unclear what world they are on, but I would imagine that ‘Habilis’ is a nod to ‘Homo habilis’, the extinct species that predates humans. If I would venture a guess, I would say this book takes place millions of years ago on earth, but obviously has sophisticated characters and landscape. These two characters run into dangers at every turn, all while trying to get the ‘Aura Seed’ to the River Flora. This will eliminate a plague that is destroying all living things.
Relatable Characters
The characters are relatable, and we enjoyed some of the themes, especially with the first-person narrator (Wilem) grappling with anxiety. However, my sons favorite character is the large lumbering companion ‘Teul’ that helps the main characters along their journey. Habilis: The Aura Seed might be the ultimate night-time book, with it’s various cliffhangers and diverse story-telling. My son would often ask us in the morning what we think will happen or if we think the characters will make it out. This kind of immersion into the story is exactly what we were hoping for him and the introduction of chapter books.
In conclusion, this book surprised us. It’s the authors first book, and whereas I’m not sure if it is self-published (everything is pretty high quality), it certainly is impressive for a debut. Without giving away the ending, the book does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger so we will be looking forward to the next book in the series when it comes out. In the meantime, we highly recommend this book for any early reader that you want to get excited about chapter books.