Description: Daria, a licensed breeder of endangered species, cares for over forty animals in her specially designed bedroom, as well as numerous birds and other outside animals. Nevertheless, she finds herself ill-prepared for the introduction of a new species into her family's household when her mother volunteers to take in an exchange student from the planet Chela (the year is 2094). Overseven feet tall and pale gray in color -- except when intense emotions change his skin to vivid shades of pink, green, and red -- Fen responds to Daria's zoo with a curiously worshipful fascination. The plot thickens when the other Chelan exchange students-with whom Fen maintains contact by means of a secret video communicator-urge him to abduct a pair of animals. When Fen gains access to the gene bank at the Ark, the conservation center Daria works for, the stakes are raised even higher. The third-person narration alternates between Daria's and Fen's perspectives and sometimes shows events from a minor character's viewpoint, which helps all of the individuals to seem fully alive. Complex and thought-provoking, the novel integrates a wildlife-conservation theme thoroughly into the plot, setting, and characterization. And although the theme is expressed more urgently toward the end as tension rises -- Fen confesses that the animals of Chela have been extinct for five hundred years and that the "exchange students" have come to Earth specifically to try to repopulate their planet -- the strength of the novel as a whole keeps it from overwhelming the story with its cautionary message. Fascinating details about the animals in Daria's care and the conservation efforts undertaken at the Ark, as well as descriptions ofFen's quirky behavior, add texture and depth to an original tale.

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