NZ Intermediate School Librarians discussion

A page-turner of a Sci Fi. 13 year old Beth has left Earth with her parents and other families bound for a far off planet where they intend to establish a colony. Their transport spacecraft is the Orion. The planet they are heading for is 26 light years away but by utilising "Jump" technology the trip will only take 9 months. When the ship "jumps", all the crew and passengers must be put into a deep sleep first, and the Orion's artificial intelligence avatar, know as "Ship" wakes the crew when the jump is complete. The first Jump goes without incident, but when Beth is woken by Ship after the second Jump, something has gone terribly wrong. The Orion has suffered damage and none of the adults can be woken. Ha! It is left to Beth and five other children to take command of Orion and try to get to safety. Aside from their damaged spacecraft, they must contend with "scrapers" (Space pirates) and the mysterious alien life-form, the Videshi. And there is uncertainty about the motives of Ship who seems to not be telling them the entire truth... (echoes of HAL from the Space Odyssey movie anyone?) Their other major problem is themselves - they are a bunch of adolescents, with only minimal skills and knowledge, and they don't even get on. What hope is there? A great "middle school" read (as opposed to "Young Adults"). I really enjoyed it.