👍The Vale (2025)

by Abigail Hing Wen

Illustrated by Yuna Cheong and Brandon Wu

Ratings

4Rbooks 4/6 grades 6-8

Amazon 4.9/5 grades 3-7

Good Reads 4.04/5

Common Sense Media not yet reviewed

Synopsis

Bran and his parents are inventors. They have designed many wonderful new creations, but unfortunately, someone comes to market with a similar product just before they launch theirs. There latest invention, an AI virtual reality experience, is sure to be the best of them all and far beyond what anyone else can do. It can let people travel to places around the world and feel like they are actually there: seeing things, feeling things, smelling the aromas of nature and food. It also can create personal experiences like The Vale, a fantasy land with a beautiful forest and lovable elves. They have been working on it for many years and are ready to show it a local technology conventions.

Unfortunately a glitch has appeared that keeps the Vale from working properly and they don't win the prize, money needed to pay their rent. The family is forced to relocate to a deserted house in the family and start over. Bran's dad gets a job with a dog food company and his mom got a job, too. Neither wants to continue inventing and failing. Bran wasn't ready to give up on The Vale. He's been working on it most of his 13-year-old life and created most of the imagery within. Including his friend, Gnomely. He sets to work fixing it in time to take it to the national Code Breaker Competition with a 10-million dollar investment prize. He enlisted Uncle Roy, a family friend, to help.

Everyone is impressed with the Vale but the glitches continue. There is a wizard trying to take control. There is a girl, looking very much like his new friend Piper, who is trying to help. The colors aren't as vivid, the plants are dying, and everything and everyone seems to be in danger. Someone seems to be sabotaging his invention, but he can't imagine who it could be. Bran must fix the glitch before final judging if he hopes to have any chance to win the prize money.

Parental Guidelines

Bran spends more time with his invention and his AI friend Gnomely then with friends.

Piper is a hacker and uses her skills regularly. Her parents are getting divorced.

Bran discovers that family friend Roy has secretly been in love with his mother for years.

Uncle Roy is the one sabotaging The Vale, and is the one responsible for the other failures.

The final battle in The Vale is intense, in a fantasy AI generated way.

The ultimate goal of The Vale project is to create an AI experience that thinks and creates for itself.

Recommendation

Let me start by saying this is one of the most beautifully illustrated books for middle-grade readers. The cover design, interior art work, and black and white drawings throughout the chapters are superb.

I have to give the author credit for the creativity of the story and timeliness as AI has become such a huge topic throughout the world. She presents her ideas in children friendly way, but leaves room for great discussions among students, parents, and teachers. When is it too much? When have we gone too far? What happens if the machine starts to think?

This book should appeal to most middle school readers, but it might be a little too advance in subject matter and vocabulary for struggling students. Techie students should love the story and be inspired toward their own creative endeavors. It would work great as a classroom read and for an advanced small group read. I think adults would enjoy it, too.

The ending of The Vale (creation, not story) reminded me of a Star Trek Next Generation episode about Data, Sherlock Holmes, and Professor Moriarity where the computer generated illustion became sentient and a creative solution was found.