I think the cover design is attractive, and I believe many young readers will enjoy the fact that small creatures hiding in a backpack are going to throw a wrench into the Sunbearer Trials, the Olympic Game-type competitions between the golden, upper class inhabitants of this fantasy world. Teo's naughty behavior (defacing a school with his spray paint) seems to possibly be excused by his lower classification as a simple Jade. Talking birds are another layer of fantasy in this book's society. The colorful creatures are everywhere; they "dotted the trees like brightly colored fruit." In addition, there is also an interesting mix of the lower Jades with regular mortals. Friction between the different classes reflects on realistic problems in the history of mankind. I did not like the opening chapter of the book which sounded too much like a paraphrase of the Judeo-Christian story of creation