The Knife of Never Letting Go

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)
Author: Patrick Ness
Other books in the series: The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men
ISBN: 1406310255
Pages: 496
Price: $18.99
Genre: Sci-fi, dystopia
Reading Level: 6th grade
Interest Level: 9th grade and up
Awards: Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (2008), YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults (2011)
Plot Summary: Todd Hewitt lives in Prentisstown, a town like no other. Prentisstown has no woman, and everyone can hear each other's thoughts, even the thoughts of animals. The noise, as they call it, is a constant part of life. All the woman in Todd's town have died, including his mother. The source of their death was a disease that they caught from the native species on the planet that they refer to as Spackle. The town told Todd that it is this disease that causes everyone to be able to hear each other's thoughts. Todd is the youngest in the town and is on the verge of becoming a man. Though not too long before his 13th birthday, Todd discovers place out in the swamps that is silent, a place where there is no noise. Todd's attempts to keep this a secret fail and his adoptive parents force him to leave Prentisstown due to some fear that they will not share with Todd. As Todd and his dog, Manchee, try to escape they are chased down by Aaron, the resident pastor, who does not have the best intentions for Todd. Todd also finds the source of the silence, a girl who was sent with her parents on a scouting  mission from another planet. Unfortunately, her parents were killed when her ship crashed. Todd can't hear her thoughts and he soon fears that she will catch the disease and die. So Todd and the girl, Viola, take off with Manchee to flee Aaron and see if they can find help. They soon find another village that has woman and Todd starts to learn the truth about Prentisstown. Though the men of Prentisstown come after Todd and take out anyone in their path. Aaron is determined to capture Viola and kill Todd. But how can you escape when none of your thoughts are secret?
Critical Review: The book has a unique feel, in that it has an almost old west type of setting with a sci-fi twist. The storyline is fast paced due to all the action and it keeps the reader very engaged through out the story. The book can be a bit difficult to read at the beginning since the spelling and vocabulary reflects that of the people of Prentisstown. Though after a while it becomes very easy to read. I also liked the way the noise is represented. Each persons thoughts are represented by a different font and at times the noise is so jumbled it's unreadable, which really helps get across the idea of the noise. The book does have quite a bit of violence, but I think the fact that Todd struggles with his part of violence shows just how it can affect a person. Patrick Ness is able to create a story, that while violent still has a lot of emotion.
Reader's Annotation: Prentisstown has many secrets. For instance what happened to all the women? And why can everyone hear each other's thoughts? Todd Hewitt is about to become a man but just before his 13th birthday he discovers the biggest secret of all: silence. What is behind the silence in the swamp and how can you keep a secret when everyone can hear your thoughts?
Book talk ideas: I would focus my book talk on the idea that everyone can hear each other's thoughts. Teens could relate to this idea of being bombarded with constant thoughts since they live in the digital age and it seems that teens are constantly being exposed to a constant stream of media.
Issues: The story is violent and it has it's own unique form of swearing. Also, the religious figure in the story is the stories main villan.
Main Themes: secrecy, dystopia, violence, coming of age, space travel
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Todd was raised with believing things were one way only to find out that he has been lied to. The story shows Todd's struggle to find the truth and to become a man. Teens can relate to Todd's struggle for the truth and his growth into adulthood.
Read alikes: Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card, Divergent by Veronica Roth
Author Website: http://www.patrickness.com/
Professional Reviews: Kirkus Reviews
Why this book was chosen: The story received critical acclaim and has been popular due to it's dystopian themes. It features a male lead character and is action packed which draws in lots of reluctant readers.

Ship Breaker

Title: Ship Breaker

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Published: May 2010

Pages: 326

Price: $16.99

ISBN: 0316056219

Other books in the series: Drowned Cities

Reading Level: 6th grade

Interest Level: 8th grade and up

Awards: National Book Award Finalist, Printz Award, Locus Award

Plot Summary: Nailer is a young boy who lives in the gulf coast which has been flooded by the rising waters. To make money Nailer scavenges tanker ships for copper wiring and other raw goods. It's a long, tireless and dangerous job but it's how Nailer survives. Everyone in Nailer's village is looking for a "lucky strike" that find that will set them up for life and get them out of their job working on tanker crews. Then one day after a storm Nailer's "lucky strike" happens. An expensive and beautiful Clipper ship is shipwrecked on shore and Nailer is the first to find it. The bought could be scavenged for more wealth than he could possible ever make in a year of tanker scavenge. But it turns out there is something far more valuable on the ship, a young rich girl. He know has two choices save the girl and risk his life or pillage the ship for all it's wealth and the the girl to her fate.

Critical Review: Ship Breaker is a gritty, faced paced dystopia novel filled with violence, bleak surrounding but colorful well developed characters. Nailer's grueling life of stripping tanker ships is nothing compared to the struggles he goes through to save himself and Nita, the rich girl from the boat from her tribes who want her dad and Nailer's drug addicted violent father who wants to exploit the girl for her wealth. At times the violence was almost too much, but it really helps tell the story of the how people lived and survived in the story. Without all the grit the story would seem to clean, too happy and the story line wouldn't feel the same, it wouldn't have that grim and desperate feeling.

Reader's Annotation: Nailer is forced to scavenge tankers and risk his life everyday in small dark holes while dreaming of a better life. Then one day his dream comes to him in the form of a crashed clipper ship, but the treasures on the ship go beyond gold, oh no the treasure Nailer finds is something far more valuable.

Issues Present: The story contains some very graphic violent scenes. There is also drugs and alcohol abuse in the story which some find offensive.

Main Themes: poverty, survival, greed, abuse, addiction, friendship

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Nailer lives a life of poverty, abuse and bleak surroundings. A teen living in similar situations can relate to Nailer's struggles and those who are more fortunate can develop empathy for those who have to struggle to survive.

Read alikes: Ashfall by Mike Mullin, The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd, Trash by Andy Mulligan

Author Website: http://windupstories.com/

Professional Reviews: Kirkus Reviews

Publisher's Weekly

Why Chose this Book? While the book is set in the future it deals with some very current issues of poverty and survival. The bleak environment shows how rough life is for the children who are forced to salvage inorder to live. The book is an award winner and has an action packed plot that pulls the reader in.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox 
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Published: April 2008
ISBN: 0805076689
Page Number: 266
Price: $16.95
Reading Level: 6th grade
Interest Level: 10th grade and up
Other books in the series: The Fox Inheritance
Awards: Golden Kite Award for Fiction (2009)
Genre: Sci-fi
Plot Summary: Seventeen year old Jenna Fox awakes from a coma not knowing who she is or what happened to her. Her parents tell her that she was in a terrible accident that killed her two best friends and that she is lucky to be alive. As Jenna's memories start to come back to her Jenna realizes that something is wrong. Her memories feel all wrong and her parents are not acting right. They seem to be hiding something from Jenna but what? When Jenna starts to search for answers she may not like what she finds. She will soon start to question who she is and just how far her parents went to save her. But have her parents gone too far?
Critical Review: The book asks a lot of big questions, like what makes us human? How far should a parent go to save their child? Should their be restrictions on what science can do to save a human? It really does bring up many talking points. It also shows Jenna's struggle with what her parents did to her. She is disgusted when she thinks about how all her memories were placed on disc till her parents could repair her body. The desperation of her parents is shown through their illegal act to keep Jenna alive yet the author shows that while the acts were illegal her parents did it out of love.
Reader's Annotation: Jenna awakes not knowing who she is or what happened to her. Apparently, Jenna was in a horrible accident that she is still recovering from but Jenna feels like something else happened. When her memories start to come back they don't seem right, so Jenna starts to search for the truth but she may not like what she finds.
Book Talk Ideas: The book deals a lot with ethics and what it is that makes us human. Jenna struggles with being alive and what her parents did to keep her alive. I think the book talk should focus on that idea. What would you do to stay alive or to keep a love one alive? What makes us human, is it our memories or is it something more?
Main Themes: ethics, death, science
Issues: There is a lot of talk of ethically choices and how far science should go to prolong a life or save a person.
Bibliotherapeutic usefulness: Jenna struggles a lot with her parents quest for a perfect daughter. I think that teens who have this same pressure at home could gain a lot from Jenna's personal struggle. It also has readers thinking about what makes a person human and how far they would go to keep someone alive. There book serves as a great discussion starter on some difficult topics of death, science and ethics.
Read alikes: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Matched by Allyson Condie
Author Website: http://www.marypearson.com/
Profession Reviews: Publisher's Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
Why include this book? The book is both sci-fi and mystery and has the reader turngin pages to find out what really happend to Jenna. It is also very relevant with discussion going on right now about the place of science in keeping people alive.