Identify a science fiction/fantasy novel from the 1980s, possibly YA, where they lived in the trees and where talk of killing others was taboo?

December 27, 2010 8:02 PM

Can you identify this book? I read it in the mid-1980s. It may or may not have been a YA (Young Adult) title. The protagonist was a young girl, and her society lived peacefully up in the trees. She was interested in seeing the world down on the surface. There may have been another society down there. At one point she lost her temper with someone (a pet?) and blurted out something like "I would like to dead you!" at which her family was shocked and horrified at her violent thoughts. I particularly remember being struck by that part, that she understood the concept of killing but didn't know the verb.

That's all I can recall. Can anyone help identify this book? I'd like to read it again. I have tried searching Google Books for variants of what I remember her saying, but no luck. Many thanks in advance!

posted by tomboko to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

Best answer: It's the Green-Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Books are Below the Root, And All Between, and Until the Celebration.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 8:07 PM on December 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Yes!! I was wrong about the female protagonist, I see! Thank you so much, fairytale of los angeles. That's what I was looking for.
posted by tomboko at 8:12 PM on December 27, 2010