Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

I finally jumped on the Divergent band wagon, or should I say train since they are highly referenced in the book, and read it.  Also here is a new cover that I really like with Shailene Woodley on it.  I think that she is a great choice to play Tris.  Anyway  I really liked that the setting is Chicago and I knew a lot of the places Ms. Roth talked about.  I like to think I have a great imagination and can create what authors describe but I didn't have to think to hard about the landscape in this book.

With that said Veronica Roth tackles a subject that many have done before her, a dystopian world.  Much like in the Hunger Games you don't know why the world is the way it is, it just is that way.  In Roth's world people are separated into five factions or virtues: Abnegation (The Selfless), Erudite (The Intelligent), Dauntless (The Brave), Amity (The Peaceful), and Candor (The Honest).  You are born into one of the factions and on your sixteenth birthday you are tested to see which faction you should spend the rest of your life in.  But you don't have to go with what the test says, you can choose differently.  For those that are Divergent the test can't determine which faction you should be in.

Beatrice Prior is Abnegation but her test results come back Divergent.  She has never felt selfless enough to stay with her faction so she chooses Dauntless.  Dauntless is a brutal faction that isn't quite what it seems.  There she meets Four and several other people that will become friends and enemies.  Some people in their society are no longer happy with the way things are ran...so of course trouble is coming!

I really enjoyed this book and the twists and turns the author took me on.  I just couldn't help think while reading, especially during the initiation training, how violent some of the scenes were.  Eric, their leader, was one cruel puppy.  I know that I would not have made it in the Dauntless society.  I really don't think I would fit very well into any of the factions but I think that is really the point.  We can have a little of all the virtues.  I am eagerly awaiting the movie which comes out on March 21 and until then I have started reading Insurgent.

Happy Reading!

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reading Level: Young Adult

Submitted by Gerti

I’m so proud of Northwestern University graduate Veronica Roth for this brilliant debut YA novel. Although teens consider it this year’s “Hunger Games”, that comparison does not mean it is bad. “The Hunger Games” is the story of a young woman’s struggle to survive in a dystopian world, and so is “Divergent,” but in Veronica Roth’s novel, the setting is Chicago, which makes this an even more interesting read for someone familiar with the city and its sights like Navy Pier and Millennium Park. Also in Roth’s favor is the fact that her heroine, Beatrice Prior, has a normal name. Sorry, Suzanne Collins. I think Katniss is a mouthful.

In THG, the brave new world is divided into 12-ish districts, and just about any teen can tell you which tribute comes from which district, and what that district makes or grows. In Roth’s world, there are five factions instead, and they are divided into specific virtues that the survivors of a war decided were important to keep around. Protagonist Beatrice (or Tris, as she becomes later) is from Abnegation, a grey-wearing, Amishesque group who believe that being selfless is the path to true peace. The other groups are Candor (for the painfully honest), Dauntless (for the insanely brave), Amity (for the friendly), and Erudite (for those who like research and reading). But there is movement between the groups.

Just as in THG, teenaged Tris is at this turning point in her life where she must choose what to be. In the Hunger Games, the districts have to send tributes to the eponymous “games”. In Roth’s world, each 16 year old has to undergo a series of mental tests which determine (to a large extent) to which faction they truly belong. Tris has had a hard time being selfless like her parent’s in Abnegation, and her test shows it. But she is something even rarer called Divergent (hence the title), which means that she has elements of various factions. Her test giver changes the results so this fact isn’t automatically known to her superiors, and warns Tris that she should tell no one about the results (not even her family), as being Divergent can be deadly.

Despite some qualms about leaving her family, Tris chooses Dauntless, and her new name comes with her introduction there as a Transfer. Like THG again, there is some training, there are some tests, but like Katniss Everdeen, Tris is able to learn and move from the bottom to the top of the ranks of new Dauntless candidates by playing to her own peculiar strengths. Like any young adult novel, Tris makes friends, faces down enemies, and has several opportunities for romance within her new faction. Of course there are symbols for each faction (think marketing opportunities!) and Tris gets a few tattoos which reflect her heritage and choices. The final scenes of the book involve her foiling an Erudite revolution against Abnegation involving a Dauntless army… and if that sounds too confusing, you must read the book! It is a thrilling trip into a dystopian post-war Chicagoland filled with teenaged angst and adventure. Can’t wait to read the next one!

Eva by Peter Dickinson

Reading Level: Young Adult
Submitted by Gerti

I read this book because it is assigned reading for my kids’ school. Though eco-science fiction is not a genre I would usually read, it fits in with their goal of teaching middle schoolers about ecology and overpopulation in today’s world. Author Peter Dickinson has set his narrative in a different world (perhaps a future earth?) in which man has destroyed the planet, so that there are only small areas of the globe where the surviving species can live. Not all species have survived to this time, but among those still in existence (mainly due to their use as experimental animals) are chimps, and this story revolves around a chimp research scientist, his wife and their 13-year-old daughter.

The scientist and his family (along with a few chimps) are involved in a terrible accident before the book starts, and the tragic result is that his daughter’s body has been destroyed. To save her “life”, her brain is transplanted into the body of a young female chimp, “Kelly”. So the first few chapters of the book involve the daughter – Eva Adamson – and her brain’s merger and acceptance of her new simian body. We meet various characters, all of whom have different motivations for making this first-of-its-kind experiment successful, including other doctors and researchers, as well as television producers and a juice company who adopts Eva as their living logo. Dickinson also makes up some new vocabulary for this “other world,” and that’s one of the places where the book falls flat for me.

So Eva becomes a “shaper” celebrity, and although she tries to go back to her earlier lifestyle of school, friends and family, it is the chimp society that really draws her interest. Over her mother’s objections, Eva begins to spend more and more time with the animals, and finally begins to adopt a leadership position in their society. A friendly producer named Grog helps a small group of chimps migrate to an island to shot natural footage for a planned “shaper” show. But when a storm rolls in, Eva and her group use the bad weather to escape to another part of the island, away from cameras and people. The book ends with Eva’s daughter and granddaughter chimps coming to see her before she dies, having lived many years in the wild.

The back cover calls this book “Daring! Mesmerizing! Riveting!” and that language is a little strong. While the plot is interesting, and the writing is sometimes clever, it is an imperfect book whose message is more important than its medium. Dickinson would have been just as well served leaving out words like “shaper” and just using our current TV technology to make his point. There is no great technological leap in his world, as people are still using cars, boats and helicopters to get around, children are still going to schools, and adults still have jobs, so the world is not that different. However, “Eva” does inspire questions about the nature of research and using animals for experiments, and for that reason, it would be appropriate to teach a middle school audience.

Divergent by Veronica Roth (Movie Trailer)

I thought I would give everyone a sneak peek at the Divergent movie trailer.  Seeing the action makes me want to read the book.  I guess I better get myself on the waiting list!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is the last Suzanne Collins book in the popular "Hunger Games" series. The series is an enormous hit at school, and paperback copies were circulating there for weeks before I could get my hands on the edition from the library. As hard as
it was to get the book, I find Collins' style to be an easy read, although not as easy or as pleasurable as the 2 books leading up to the point.

I must say that the beginning of the book was very disorienting. Compared to the other two books, which Collins puts in chronological order, this book jumps ahead of the action and finds Katniss Everdeen waking up after her injuries in
and rescue from the special Hunger Games anniversary edition she had to endure. The importance of that Games, the Quarter Quell, is that many champions from past years have to fight each other. Katniss and her partner from
District 12,Reeta Mellark, study the films of the past winners so that they are familiar with their strengths and weaknesses before choosing their allies. But the
Games don't go as the Gamemakers plan; many of the previous winners are out to defeat the government of Panem, and not each other, due to the cruelty of the Hunger Games system.

The book opens as Katniss recovers from her concussion, and we only slowly find out how she has ended up in a District 13 hospital ward, and what happened to her friends, family, and fellow competitors. It is interesting to find out about life in this District which was supposed bombed to the ground during an earlier war, but in which the inhabitants have moved to underground tunnels many layers deep. There is however, menace from the start, as Katniss tries to figure out who
cares for her and who is trying to use her for their own political ends.

I enjoy reading about how Katniss endures each challenge, physical as well as mental. She has moments of weakness as she watches her old boyfriend Peeta being paraded on Panem lV in weakened condition, or sees her new Mockingjay costume designed by her friend from the Capitol, Cinna, who was killed before her eyes right before the Quell started. While she is mainly ignorant and often ambivalent about the political movement brewing behind her, she agrees to become its symbol, "the Mockingjay," in order to make a better life for her family and friends. There are many twists and turns and opportunities for her humanity to shine before everything resolves itself satisfactorily when Peeta rejoins her at the end.

While this is the weakest of the 3 books for me, Katniss uses her skills to triumph in the end, leading a squadron of rebels into the Capitol to witness the death of President Snow and the birth of a new government before returning to District 12.

Submitted by Stephanie

Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Reading Level: Young Adult

On my massive reading list!

From the catalog: Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. When Seth is mysteriously released from the brig the night of a strange explosion that sends the ship off-course, tensions between Kieran and Seth reach a boiling point, as Waverly ponders following her heart, even if it puts lives at risk.   

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Reading Level: Young Adult

On my massive reading list!

From the catalog: To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.     

1984 by George Orwell

Having read Orwell's other works, such as Animal Farm, I was expecting a lot from this piece. I had heard much about 1984 and its significance, so I decided to start reading. What I found was in part what I had predicted, but in many ways, it surpassed my expectations. Orwell creates a world where the evil of our society had reached its peak and the average citizen is no more than a willing puppet in the schemes of the shadowy leaders, where continuous war keeps the peace, and where the government can even control your thoughts. Such a world is both intriguing and appalling.

The main character, Winston Smith, is a member of the all-powerful Party. He lives under the constant surveillance of the "telescreens", the equivalent of modern-day security cameras. Along with his fellow workers, he lives a bleak life without pleasure, enjoyment, or freedom. His line of work: editing (rectifying, in Party terms) the media stories to suit the interests of the Party, even if this means creating blatant lies. He begins to secretly rebel by breaking rule after rule. When he meets Julia, who does the same, it seems they are perfect for each other. At first they are paranoid and very careful, but the longer they go uncaught, the more they let their guard down. In the end they are betrayed by a supposed "friend", tortured until their love is not for each other but for the Party, and finally executed.

This sad world has many advanced concepts, some of which are on their way to being realized in our world. 1984is not just a criticism of totalitarianism, it is the
story of a future that could become our own if we do not uphold the principles of equality and democracy. 

Submitted by Max 

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is the first book in Suzanne Collins "Hunger Games" series, but not,
however, the first of her books I have read. Besides the crime of reading the
series out of order, I also saw the movie first, due to the popularity of the books and the long wait list at the library. So reading the book clarified a few questions for me, namely, how to spell Katniss and Peeta! It also explained the comments made by others when the movie came out a few weeks ago that the actress who played Katniss was too fat. I thought the comments were just typical of Hollywood body weight expectations, but now I see from Collins descriptions that Katniss should have been a1most skeletal due to the deprivation in her home district in Panem.

I thoroughly enjoy Collins narrative style, which reads like Young Adult fiction. I
enjoyed reading about Katniss' typical teen struggle of shifting loyalties and new found understanding. She struggles between which young man to love, Gale or Peeta. She is also working through a difficult relationship with her mother after the tragic death of her father, but in time comes to understand that while her mother is fallible, she also has great gifts. The most difficult struggle for her is actually her loyalty to her country, which is shown by her disobedience of the- hunting laws, her willingness to deal on the black market, and finally, her actions during the Hunger Games.

I find the story even more engaging than I found the movie, as the book goes into more depth regarding all her new experiences in the Capitol, including the food, which sounds delicious, ·as well as her privations at home and her life and death struggle during the Hunger Games. I enjoy meeting the other participants from the other Districts, as well as getting a better look into Katniss' thought processes while she goes through her various struggles. The writing adds a richness and
complexity which is ignored or lost in the movie.

I enjoy reading about how the female protagonist endures and triumphs over each challenge. I enjoyed meeting her mother and sister in more depth, but wondered why the origin story of the Mockingjay pin was altered for the movie version. I miss the character of Katniss' friend Madge in the movie, and also liked how Peeta's father was kind to her in the book, due to his love and respect for
her parents, but now miss him in the movie.

In summary, I am very pleased with both of the Collins books I have read, and look forward to having my questions answered in the 3^rd book, "Mockingjay" which I hope to pick up from the library this week. 

 Submitted by Gerti 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

This is the first Suzanne Collins book in the "Hunger Games" series that I have
read, mainly due to the popularity of the books after the movie was released.
However, despite the fact that my husband told me he couldn't make it through
the first book because he didn't like the writing style, I find Collins' style to be an
easy read, and finished the book in one day.

After seeing the movie, it was nice to see some things in print - namely, how to
spell Katniss and Peeta. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her actions after her
victory in the competition, and while it reads like Young Adult fiction in that part of
her struggle is with her love life, the story is most engaging when she is paired
with Peeta for a victory tour, and then later, for an anniversary version of the
Hunger Games they already endured.

I enjoy how the novel deals with the lifestyle changes Katniss endures, not only
in her romantic life, but how her new found fame brings with it rewards, and new
challenges. Becoming a famous television stare in Panem, this country where
she lives in District 12, does not only bring with it great clothes and food. It also
brings for her the difficulty of dealing with the invasion of privacy, as the current
government under President Snow is able to spy on her, and further to force her
to choose one romantic partner to save the life of another.

I enjoy reading about how Katniss endures each challenge, having only moments
of weakness when she sees those she loves, like her old boyfriend Gale or her
dresser Cinna, being hurt or even killed by the current government. I enjoyed
how she is mainly ignorant of the political movement that is brewing behind her
humanitarian actions, as it is plausible that media would be controlled in a
political state like Collins describes in this book. And I also enjoy how she learns
the secrets through her kindness to others.

In summary, while not a classic work of literature, this is a book to me on the
scale of Brave New World, where a protagonist is forced to deal with forces
larger than herself, but through her own strong character and deep family ties,
she can endure and even triumph through the worst of it. While I find the end
confusing, I'm sure all will be answered in the 3rd book, "Mockingjay," and will be
eager to read it when my time on the waiting list is up! 

Submitted by Gerti

The Hunger Games Triology by Suzanne Collins

I will admit I wasn't sure I was ever going to read this series. It sounded like something I would like but I held off. It didn't help that they were really popular and I could never get my hands on them. Even librarians have to wait in line. I actually still had to wait for book two and three even though they have been out for awhile now.

The Hunger Games was my favorite out of the three. Catching Fire was my second favorite and I really didn't like Mockingjay. Mockingjay just didn't sit well with me. I thought it moved slowly and then at the end it was like boom it ended. I liked that she gave the reader a glimpse into Katniss's future but I was disappointed in the way the series ended. I think the love triangle could have been developed better. I enjoy the romance in a book and I enjoy a good love triangle and I didn't find myself falling in love with either one of the guys like I normally do. That could be due to the fact I found Katniss hard to love.

From the website:

The Hunger Games

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.

Catching Fire

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Mockingjay

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

Legend by Marie Lu

Sometimes we get ARC copies of books. Which are Advanced Reader Copies. A lot of times these copies are not edited or the book is damaged in some way. The pages of the this book wasn't cut right but I could still read the story and that is all I care about. I am always excited when Karin brings me books back from her Children's Meetings. I think I got this book back in October but I wasn't sure if the library was going to buy it so I held off on blogging about it. Then I got caught up in computer training and didn't blog at all.

I loved this book. I was sucked in from page one and couldn't put it down. The world as we know it is no more. What was once the western part of the US is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with it's neighbors. Fifteen year old June was born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts and is a military prodigy committed to her country. Born into the slums of the Republic's Lake Sector, fifteen year old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. June and Day have no reason to cross paths until the day June's brother Metias is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. June gets an early graduation from her military academy to hunt Day and the boy she finds isn't what she expected. Day is in a race for his family's survival and caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse. Together June and Day uncover a shocking truth about the Republic and the sinister lengths to which it will go to keep its secrets.

I'm hoping there will be more books but the authors website doesn't say.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

While reading this book I couldn't help think it was like Battlestar Galactica for teens without the cylons. The story is way different than Battlestar but that's what it reminded me of.

When Earth started to die a group of people were chosen to go into space and look for a New Earth. I'm not exactly sure how these people were chosen but I don't think its that important. Two identical ships were launched into space. The New Horizon started it's journey a year before the Empyrean. Somehow the two meet up with each other before the scheduled time. What you find out is that going into space somehow made these people infertile. The Empyrean ship found a cure and the New Horizon ship did not. The New Horizon ship comes after the Empyrean for it's girls. The Empyrean is not equipped to handle the attack of the New Horizon and all the young girls are taken including the oldest, Waverly who is fifteen. Left behind on the Empyrean are all the young boys and a few adults. The rest of the adults leave to try and get the girls back. Every few chapters of the book alternate between Waverly on the New Horizon ship and Kieran, her boyfriend, on the Empyrean.

This was a book I couldn't put down. The Empyrean is a great place to live. All Waverly has to worry about is whether or not she should marry her boyfriend Kieran and start a family. Due to the infertility problems it is best if you start having babies early on. But she does seem to have some feelings for Seth, who may or may not be a very good guy. When the Empyrean is attacked Waverly and Kieran's lives get turned upside down. Waverly has to survive being on a unknown ship with strangers with a captain that seems nice but isn't. Kieran has to deal with being in charge of a bunch of boys that don't all see eye to eye with him. You don't exactly know what happens to all the adults. You don't know who to trust. I can't wait for the next book. It comes out next summer.