If You Liked The Hunger Games...

...you'll love this book. Yes, we've all been using that line a lot lately, and there are (fortunately) quite a few YA books that deserve the comparison. I've been compiling a list, but I just threw it away because I finished a book that REALLY, TRULY will appeal to the same students.

Article 5, by Kristen Simmons, is a mashup of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (the U.S. is a totalitarian Fundamentalist theocracy), Neal Shusterman's Unwind (teens who don't comply are disposed of) and Cormac McCarthy's The Road (post-apocalyptic quest, where no one can be trusted), all wrapped up in a teen love/survival triangle à la The Hunger Games.

Ember Miller's mother does not accept the Moral Statutes that are enforced by a Taliban-style force known as the Moral Militia. As a single mother, she and Ember are in violation of Article 5 of those statutes, which means they can be targeted for "rehabilitation". Ember has absorbed enough of her mother's revolt to realize that she does not want to become a compliant, subservient "sister", so she looks for a way to escape. When all seems lost, an unlikely savior rescues her, and teaches her how to survive as they strike out to join a rumored Resistance.

Along the way, Ember must struggle with her panic over how her mother must be coping with the same kind of rehabilitation, her buried feelings for the boy-next-door that she misses, her conflicted feelings for the brutal, survival-savvy soldier who helps her, and whether she has the ability to take another's life if necessary to survive.

Like the first Hunger Games, this book ends with enough resolution to satisfy teen fans, yet enough loose ends to fuel sequels - and I sincerely hope they are in the works.

More Celestial Events

Once again, it's meteor shower time - this time, the Leonids. If you're in North America, go outside right now, and just hang out until 3:00 a.m. For hints about watching the leonids, go to redOrbit.com.

While you're watching, think about Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and hope you don't see any changes in the moon! In her diary, 16-year-old Miranda describes her life in small-town Pennsylvania. It's pretty routine: high school homework, the tragedy of not being asked to the prom, and irritation with her divorced parents and baseball-fanatic little brother. She has stopped figure-skating, and become a swimmer, and she plans to join the volleyball team for her Junior year.

When an asteroid hits the moon (hmmm, speak of shooting rockets at teh moon...), it causes a chain reaction of events. The moon shifts in orbit, causing massive tsunamis that wipe out most coastal cities. Earthquakes cause more havoc, then intense electrical storms and volcanic activity. Communication and transportation grind to a halt, so Miranda and her family plant a family garden and then live off canned goods. Entertainment is books and board games and singing. When food has to be rationed, Miranda has to think about who will be allowed to survive and who will die as a result. Family takes on new meaning for her.

My student book club is reading this now, and it's the first book that has re-captured the interest of students who loved The Hunger Games last year!