Below the Root
Chosen to become one of a group of civil and religious leaders ruling the land of Green-Sky, thirteen-year-old Raamo's experiences make him question their teachings and lead him to uncover age-old deceptions.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
5mentions
3people
2017–2025years
80% recommend20% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I absolutely loved Below the Root when I was a kid. I definitely shared the author's sense of wonder when playing. The game world felt expansive and mysterious. It was probably the closest to an "open world game" I ever played on an Apple II.
I'm excited to try out the Commodore 64 version now that I know it was the original.
- I have also been obsessed with "Below the Root" since it came out.
Dale Disharoon/DeSharone had an odd insight into textures. Look at the ladders. Look at the vines, both those that can be climbed and those that can be cut with a "trencher beak". Look at the way the trees evoke growing wood. The visuals are much more evocative than should be possible at this resolution.
Dale also did a Disney-licensed Apple II game based on "The Jungle Book" which is similar in character to "Below the Root" and a game based on "Alice in Wonderland". Both are strange and mystical and full of odd vines that remind me of the patterns left by the cellular automaton "Langton's Ant".
All Dale's games were unfair and opaque but that was the state of the art.
- Below The Root [0], by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
A highly imaginative, original, and underrated, world setting.
Also had the distinction of having a sequel in the form of a video game, with the game's story written by the book author herself. [1]
The game (for the PC, Apple II and Commodore 64) was way ahead of its time in 1984: [2] and I only just heard of it and the books last month! It definitely needs more recognition.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sky_Trilogy
[1] http://blog.stahlmandesign.com/below-the-root-a-story-a-comp...
- Most of "human nature" is taught and learned.
If you think "untrustworthiness" is part of our fundamental animal instincts, then just look at how most cultures have managed to repress one of the most basic animal instincts – sex – through indoctrination.
Why can't the same be done for violence and maliciousness?
Check out the Green Sky Trilogy (aka Below The Root) books, which depict a world where pacifism has been more or less achieved, through teaching children to abhor violence the same way our world does for sex and stuff.
- Similar experience w/ my daughter (now 12 y/o) here. We read the heck out of children's books when she was little. There were nights when I really didn't want to slog thru the same Suzy Spafford[6] book again, but I did it anyway. I think it paid off. My daughter is an avid reader now.
She says she still wants me to read to her, so I do. This year was a bit sci-fi heavy, and we've decided to target more fantasy and literature in 2026.
This year's books included:
"Below the Root", "And All Between", and "Until the Celebration" - The "Green Sky Trilogy"[0] by Zilpha Keatly Snyder. We held off on playing the "Below the Root" video game[1] but I'm hoping that as we get into winter weather and outside time becomes more scarce we can get to it. It's arguably the final book in the "trilogy".
"Redshirts"[2] by John Scalzi. We've been slowly making our way through Star Trek TOS in the last couple years so. That gave her enough cultural fluency with the tropes in the book to make it effective.
"To Say Nothing of the Dog"[3] by Connie Willis. My daughter adores Victorian England and comedy. This book also turned her on to Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)"[4] (which I'm still working thru on my own-- I do not particularly love Victorian England but it is a good book).
Besides the books I read to my daughter, I also read Martha Wells' "The Murderbot Diaries"[5] series myself. I'm vaguely interested in the television adaptation. I'd love to hear what somebody who has read the series thinks of the TV version.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sky_Trilogy
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sky_Trilogy
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirts_(novel)
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Say_Nothing_of_the_Dog
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_in_a_Boat
