The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Published: March 2009
ISBN: 9780575090859
Price: 16.99
Pages: 310
Genre: fiction, zombie apocalypse, dystopian
Other books in the series: The Dead Tossed Waves, The Dark and Hallow Places
Reading Level: 7th grade
Interest Level: 9-12th grade
Awards: Junior Library Guild Selection
Plot Summary: Mary lives in a village that is fenced in from the surrounding woods to protect the people from the Unconsencrated. The Unconsencrated are the living dead that seek human flesh and Mary is pretty sure her father is one of them, out there wandering the woods. Her village is run by the religious Sisterhood. They protect the village from the death that awaits them outside the fences. For women in Mary's village they have two choices, they may either get married and have children or they will join the Sisterhood. But things go wrong for Mary when her mother wanders too close to the fence and is bitten and will soon change to one of the Unconsencrated. Mary is forced into the Sisterhood and is not happy with restrictions that are now placed on her life. Then one night Mary discovers that the Sisterhood is hiding a strange visitor to their village. Does this mean that there is life outside the village? Mary must find out what is beyond the fences and she is willing to risk her life for it.
Review: I was interested in Carrie Ryan's interpretation of the zombie genre. She approaches it in a different way with referring to the zombies as Unconsecratred. Ryan also has religion overtaking society in order to protect people from the zombies. Society seems to have gone backwards in the sense that modern technology is gone and the manner in which people live is reflective of a simpler time. But the story seems to never get going. There is only spurts of action and the lulls in the story make it hard to get through some parts. Mary is an extremely selfish and angsty character who seems to only be concerned with her well being. The story has lots of potential but it just seems to fall short. 
Reader's Annotation: Mary's mother said there was once an ocean so vast and blue. But now all that exists outside the fence are the Unconsencrated, wanting the flesh of the living.
Bibliotherapeutic usefulness: Mary wants to see the world outside of her fenced in village. She refuses to live under the strict rules of the Sisterhood. Readers will connect with her struggle to be independent and be free.  She is also in love with Travis who is engaged to her best friend. Teens can relate to Mary's unrequited love. Mary also deals with the death of her mother, the loss of her father and the betrayal of her brother. It allows teens to understand the feelings of losing a family member or having a family member disown you.
Issues: The Sisterhood, which is a religious group, are portrayed as manipulative and controlling. Some religious people may find that it is trying to portray religion in a bad light. There is also zombies in the story, including Mary's own mother. There is even a zombie baby that they drop outside a window to kill. Mary's brother also has to kill his own wife and there is many other grotesque zombie killings throughout the story.
Book Talk Ideas: Zombies are huge right now but this book focuses much more on the struggles of Mary as she lives in a world over run by zombies. This book can attract some readers that may not be huge zombie fans. I think for the book talk it should focus more on Mary's struggle and the need for her to see what it outside her village.
Main Themes: romance, freedom, survival, independence
Read-alikes: Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Author Website: http://carrieryan.com/
Professional Reviews: Kirkus Reviews
Why this book was chosen: I have never been a huge zombie fan but this one seemed like one that I could be interested in. The story is more character focused, rather than being focused on the zombies.