books

The Unwanteds- Lisa McMann

| cgkinnett

At my internship there is a whole wall made up of a bookshelf with a sign that says, “the perks of being an intern.” We are encouraged to take books home for our reading pleasure and of course I immediately went to the YAL section of said shelf whereupon my eye was instantly drawn to book one in the self titled series The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann.

It could be the future, it could be an alternate world where we’ve never existed, but the people of Quill would never know the difference because there is a wall around Quill and no one has been on the other side of it, unless they were condemned as Unwanted. And really, who would want to leave Quill? There is order and structure and everyone knows their place. Every year all thirteen year old children are Purged and sorted (sound familiar?) into Wanteds, Necessaries and Unwanteds. The Wanteds go to University to study and better the future of Quill, the Necessaries do manual labor that consists of anything and everything the Wanteds won’t do. The Unwanteds, the creative type who show possibilities of thinking outside of the proverbial box, are taken to the  Lake of Burning Oil and disposed of. It is shameful to have an Unwanted child and to have two means you can never have another child.

Alex and Aaron Stowe are twins and it is their year to be purged. Aaron is called forth and deemed Wanted. Alex on the other hand has been caught drawing more than once and there is no question that he is Unwanted. After the Purge the Unwanteds are bused to their death without a word to their loved ones because they have no loved ones. What they find on the other side of the wall is not a burning lake but an oasis that is full of amazing creatures like beavops and squirrelicorns and platyprots; there is a jungle and an ocean and people smiling. Artimè is a magical place that literally thrives on creativity. There is so much to learn in this new world and we journey with Alex as he and his friends discover that there is much more to life than being Unwanted and that their creativity is something that should be explored and expanded upon.

For fifty years Artimè has existed peacefully without the knowledge of those in Quill; but Utopias cannot exist and the inevitable begins.

McMann creates such a vivid world with characters whose outlooks on life are vastly contrasted and it is interesting to see these contrasts illustrated through identical twins. Despite being YAL and despite the growing trend of children being sorted, there are twists and turns in this story that are not template young adult lit. This is something that made me even more intrigued to pick up book two. There is much more to Quill and Artimè than one might expect as Alex and Aaron find out for themselves as they take their own seperate and individual paths. After all, you can’t make an individual; they are created.

This is a story to which I give four and a half books.

Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher

| cgkinnett

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of others,” Hannah Baker tells us as we listen along with Clay Jenkins to the cassette tapes he found on his front porch upon his arrival home from school. The reader, along with Clay, is intrigued at first. What do these mystery tapes contain? The answer to this question is immediately revealed once the first tape is popped in.

What follows is Hannah’s side to stories and rumors and how they all culminate in her decision to end her life. They are a snowball effect as she calls them.

I was hooked to this book from the start of Cassette One- Side A and after that first side I thought, word for word, the above quote. It was chilling when I read Hannah’s same thought. This book took me back to high school; to reputations and rumors and how those effect not just the person they are about but those who hear it, their perception of you.

Hearing Hannah’s reasons and Clay’s reactions makes for quite an emotional rollercoaster which caused me to tear up more than once. It was amazing to see things unravel into a perfectly tangled web and learn person by person the reasons why she had made this decision which won’t be able to be undone.

The way the book is written allows the reader to hear the tapes along with Clay, while simultaneously hearing his stream of consciousness. We piece together events as he does, silently realizing the degree of separation at their high school is a lot smaller than he ever imagined.

This is a book that shows how easy it is to shatter someone without meaning to or knowing that you’ve done it and how it is even easier to do so intentionally. 13 Reasons Why addresses this issue head on. Without ever straying from the subject. Jay Asher paints such a vivid picture of suffering for us that it is quite easy to feel for Hannah as she connects events that take place both at school and outside of it. The pain is evident.

This is a story that will make you think twice before you speak and act. This is a story that will make you aware of those around you. This is a story that will stay with you for quite some time.

This is a story to which I give five out of five books.

Chaos of Stars- Kiersten White

| cgkinnett

Isadora (not Izzy and not Dora) is a normal Egyptian teenager…who happens to be the daughter of gods Isis and Osiris. Tired of her deity filled life in which everyone worships her parents and overlooks her, Isadora convinces her mother to let her live with one of her brothers, Sirius, in San Francisco. It is an absolute pleasure experiencing American customs for the first time with Isadora. White captures Isadora’s teen spirit so perfectly that I found myself wanting to join her and her new friends on their trips to the beach (too much water, not enough sand) and star gazing evenings (too many clouds, not enough stars).

While in the land of the free, Isadora enjoys her distance from her parents, particularly from her mother. However, something is not right and Isadora can feel it even if she can’t put her finger on it. First there is the break in at Sirius’ house, then one at the museum at which Isadora is working, this coupled with the dreams that are getting harder and harder to ignore. Isadora wonders if her new found freedom is not all she imagined it would be.

White creates a spitfire in Isadora and as such Chaos of Stars  is filled with great one liners and spunky energy. Stay the summer in San Fran with Isadora and her new friends Tyler, Ry and Scott. The only thing that was disappointing about this book was when I realized there was no sequel.

I give Chaos of Stars five out of five books.