First Light
Rebecca Stead
 First Light follows the adventure of two protagonists, Peter, who lives with his mother and father in New York but is in Greenland for his father's research, and Thea, who lives in an underground colony in Greenland called Gracehope. Gracehope was formed hundreds of years ago by a group called the Settlers who used to live in England. They possessed unusual abilities, such as extremely good vision and hearing, leading them to be called 'eye adepts' and 'ear adepts', respectively. These powers were seen as sorcery, prompting Grace, the leader of the Settlers, to bring the Settlers under the ice in Greenland where they could live in peace. While walking around her house, Thea finds a map in her room of Gracehope. The map shows a tunnel leading onto the surface. Thea and her cousin Mattias find the tunnel and meet Peter who helps them back to Gracehope. Reaching Gracehope, Peter realizes that several talismans of the people are in the shape of mitochondrial DNA, which his mom is studying. After waking up from a headache, Peter finds his mom next to his bed. She explains that she used to live in Gracehope, but was banished with her sister, after her sister ventured above the surface and contracted an illness that could not be cured. She also explains that her research of mitochondrial DNA relates to the ability of mutations to benefit the human body, which could cause their extremely good vision and hearing. In the end, she warns Peter that global warming is causing Gracehope to slowly melt away. The entire colony must learn the dangers they face and escape. One obstacle lies in their way: Rowen, Thea and Peter's grandmother who banished Peter's mom and did nothing to help Thea's mom when she was on her deathbed from an illness when she ventured aboveground. Rowen is the head of the Council in Gracehope and is strictly against going aboveground. To convince the rest of the colony, Peter and Thea plan to use a piece of mythology, that a dog with four white paws would be born when it was time to leave. Such a dog had been born several days ago but has yet to open his eyes. Thea decides to proceed without using the dog and tries to convince the colony at a reenactment of the Settler's escape to Greenland with several allies who know of Rowen's actions. Just as Thea and her allies are about to lose the argument, Peter arrives with the dog, whose eyes are open. That, coupled with the fact that Peter is an eye adept, the first in a hundred years, convinces the colony to listen to Thea instead of Rowen. The novel ends eight months later as the people of Gracehope are slowly educated on global warming and the dangers of staying in their colony.