Crossed, Ally Condie

I finished Crossed, by Ally Condie, this morning. It is the sequel to her novel Matched, which I read with my sixth graders this spring. Matched is about a dystopian society in which the government (they just call it "The Society") controls all of the important decisions in a person's life. The title comes from the Society's "Match Banquet," in which it matches its citizens, at the age of 17, to their future spouses. I won't give all the back story that's in Matched - read it yourself! - but Crossed obviously picks up where it left off. Here's a quick trailer for Matched: 

We find Cassia and Ky both at work in the Outer Provinces, in search of The Rising - a group of rebels that are determined to overthrow the Society. The novel alternates between Cassia's and Ky's point of view. Initially, they are separated and are determined to find eachother. Ultimately, they do, and they find the Rising together.

Cassia is still matched to Xander, though, and some of her friends in the Outer Provinces know a secret about him that she isn't privy to. Xander comes to visit her once yet is discouraged by the fact that her heart is still with Ky. I was so shocked when I learned Xander's secret - I can't wait to see how Cassia reacts to learning his secret  in the next, and final, novel in the trilogy.

Overall, this book was a little slow and relatively dull. The situation surrounding Ky and Cassia's journey seemed like it would have lent itself to a lot more adventure and action, but the bulk of the novel was about their feelings and longings to know the Rising and be together - it was, like I said, kind of dull.

However, I really enjoyed Matched, and Crossed ends in a way that I know the third and final novel in the trilogy will be exciting and thrilling, like the first one was. So, I'd still recommend reading it. The third book is titled Reached, and comes out in November. I read this article from the author's website, and it says that the final book will be told from Xander's perspective. Reached is definitely on my to-read list!

Kick, Walter Dean Myers and Ross Workman

Walter Dean Myers has written a ton of novels for young adults, but what's cool about this one is that he wrote it WITH a young adult. Ross Workman emailed Myers in 2007 thanking him for his books, and from there  a collaborative project began in which they wound up writing this novel, Kick, together. How awesome would it be to email your favorite author and then have them invite you to collaborate on a novel?!

Anyway, Kick is about a boy named Kevin Johnson who winds up in juvie for a string of offenses - grand theft auto and driving without a license, among others. He was driving his friend Christy McNamara's father's car (with her in it) when he crashed into a light pole and was arrested. But, Johnson is the son of a deceased police officer, and a current officer named Sergeant Brown takes special interest in his case, out of respect for Kevin's dead father.

From the beginning of the novel, it's clear that something isn't quite right about the situation surrounding the night of the arrest. There's something mysterious about Christy's father, yet both Christy and Kevin refuse to talk. This mystery and suspense really propelled the novel and kept me reading. Kevin is a pretty talented soccer player, too, and a huge portion of the novel is devoted to his games and practices. I honestly found those parts kind of boring - I was more interested in the court case.

At the end of the novel, there are a bunch of emails between Myers and Workman as they worked on the novel together. I found those really interesting to read. It was cool to see the kind of advice that Myers gave to an aspiring writing, and to read about the kinds of things they had to work through in order to get the novel published.

Some more fun info about Walter Dean Myers...he was recently named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. That's a pretty important post, and means he'll travel the country for two years promoting literacy among adolescents. I found this article about his appointment, and it discusses Myers's childhood - he dropped out of high school, but maintained a love of books and reading, allowing him to get to where he is today.

Insurgent, Veronica Roth

Okay, I finished Divergent and Insurgent in less than a week and couldn't put them down, so it is NOT FAIR that the third book in the trilogy isn't scheduled to come out until the fall of 2013!

Anyway, Insurgent picks up where Divergent left off, with the hunt for the Divergent going strong. Tris (Beatrice) and her Dauntless trainer/boyfriend Tobias ("Four") find themselves going on a wild and dangerous journey, through several other factions' headquarters in order to save the Divergent and the society as a whole.

Jeanine, the evil leader of the Erudite faction (the faction who values knowledge above all else) is hot on their trail, though, seeking to do cruel and dangerous experiments on them to figure out exactly WHAT being Divergent means and what it does to them.

Tris and Four band up with a group of factionless and vow to overthrow Jeanine and her lackeys while saving their society. Along the way, they meet back up with Tris's parents, her brother, Caleb, - an Erudite transfer - and Tobias's family. Will they prevail?

The novel was fast-paced and action-packed. I don't know why I thought about it more with this novel than the first, but I found myself constantly wondering which faction in this society I would align with if I'd had to choose. I'm still not sure. Like Divergent, it did have some more mature themes and scenarios, so I'd still recommend it to older 7th and 8th grade readers.

JBA Post #17: Boys Without Names, Kashmira Sheth

I honestly thought I was going to like Boys Without Names a lot more than I did. I love reading novels about children in places that are unfamiliar to me, especially the Middle East and Asia, so I thought this book would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

The main character, Gopal, and his family live in India, on a farm. However, times have gotten tough and they are forced to sell their farm, but finances just keep getting worse. Gopal's parents owe a lot of money to a debt collector, and they decide that the only way to liberate themselves is to move away in secret, to the big city of Mumbai. Gopal's father has a brother there, and he says that he can secure work for Gopal's father, Baba.

The family journeys to Mumbai, and ultimately connects with the uncle, Jama. However, before meeting him, Baba disappears and Gopal, his mother, and twin brother/sister are left to fend for themselves. Gopal longs to make money and be able to contribute to his family's expenses and to thank Jama for his hospitality.

So, when Gopal meets a boy named Jatin who claims he can secure Gopal a job at his "uncle's factory", it sounds like perfection. Gopal soon learns that Jatin is a liar, and finds himself enslaved under a nameless man - whom he nicknames "Scar" - working his days away for little food with a group of other, nameless boys. Over time, Gopal becomes a sort of leader among the other slaves, and they look to him for advice, entertainment, and kindness.

The conditions Gopal and his fellow laborers work under are horrendous, and he vows to get out. Will he?

One of my biggest complaints about the novel is that it moves really slowly - everything seemed to be kind of drawn out and there was not a lot of action. Also, Baba disappears in the beginning and I was waiting for the ENTIRE novel to find out what happened to him, but never received that satisfaction...it really annoyed me!

I have one more JBA nominee to read, but there's only one day of school left...guess I won't be meeting my goal this year! :(

Divergent, Veronica Roth

I just finished Divergent and think I read it in record time! I could NOT put it down. It was strange though; sometimes I wasn't even sure I liked the book - I just had to keep reading. It really caught me.

I will say this...Divergent is not for the faint of heart. It's in the dystopian genre and lots of my students that have read Hunger Games have enjoyed it, but the only way I can think of putting it is that Divergent is more sinister than the world in Hunger Games. Lots more fighting, suicides, and just crazy psycho-manipulation kinds of stuff. It was interesting to me, but I'd recommend it to more mature readers who are prepared for those types of things. There's also some discussion of sex, so I'd put this more as a mature 7th/8th grade book.

Anyway, the concept in Divergent is really cool. After a wave of wars, the people decide that there are several reasons for the breakdown of humanity. They then divide themselves into five "factions" based on what they think the error in society is. The factions are the Abnegation who believe that selfishness is to blame, the Dauntless who believe it was cowardice, the Amity who believe that peace will save the world, the Erudite who believe that a lack of knowledge lead to society's demise, and the Candor who believe that honesty will yield a productive, cohesive society.

At sixteen, every member of society chooses which faction they will live under, and begins the initiation rites for that particular faction. They can choose to stay within their family's faction or leave and go out on their own, but their decisions are based largely on an "aptitude test" which predicts which faction their personality is most aligned with. The main character, Beatrice, is deemed "Divergent" after her test, meaning that she has aptitudes for more than one of the factions. Beatrice knows this is rare, but as the novel progresses, she comes to find out just how dangerous her status truly is. To the people of her world, it's worth killing over.

This novel is packed with twists and turns and unexpected action/drama. If you like dystopian novels and are  prepared for some rather grim material, I'd definitely tell you not to be overwhelmed by the length - it's almost 500 pages - and give it a shot! You won't be disappointed.

The next book in the trilogy, Insurgent, just came out...can't wait to get started on it.

The Gardener, S.A. Bodeen

Have you ever heard the word autotroph before? Well, an autotroph is an organism that can generate its own food source, and that's what this novel is all about.

A group of scientists in The Gardener have become increasingly alarmed by the dwindling food supply. So, they've made it their mission to create human autotrophs - humans that are capable of making their own food - for when the inevitable food crisis occurs.

The main character, Mason, happens to meet one of the kids involved in this experiment, a mysteriously beautiful girl named Laila. Not fully understanding the experiment and determined to save her, Mason goes on an adventure-filled quest to figure out exactly what's going on at the laboratory that she came from, and just who "The Gardener" that Laila is so terrified of is. You'll be shocked when you realize "The Gardener's" identity!

The book presented an interesting concept (the food crisis) and had lots of plot twists that I didn't expect. It has a little bit of everything - dystopian themes, romance, mystery, and adventure. I'd recommend it to both boys and girls.

On another note...I only have TWO Book Award nominees left! They are Boys Without Names and Camo Girl. Do you think I can finish?! I think I can!!

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

I've read this book before, but it just came out in paperback so when I bought a copy for my classroom I decided to re-read it. I'm glad I did!

Between Shades of Gray is about a girl named Lina who lives in Lithuania during WWII. Lina, her mother, and her brother are separated from her father and shipped out to a labor camp in Siberia, operated by Joseph Stalin's men. Lina is an aspiring artist, and she hopes that sending drawings of her experiences will help her father find her family.

I love this novel for a few reasons. First of all, so much time is devoted to Hitler's concentration camps when studying WWII, that we often overlook terrible things that were done by other people (like Stalin) during WWII. Also, the book is really well-written, and I love the flashbacks that Lina has linking experiences from the camp with with memories she has of the past.

There are a few questionable scenes, but I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII and in seeing things from a different perspective.