LAST DAY TO VOTE

If you haven't voted for Cool Kids Read (Children's category) for the Independent Book Bloggers Awards, this is the last day to do so -- voting closes tonight at 11:59 PM!!

Go to http://www.goodreads.com/book_blogger_award to vote or click the VOTE button in the upper right hand corner of this page.

And thank you for your support!

Legend by Marie Lu

Yes, yes, I know, another dystopian YA. I swear, I'm switching to middle grade fantasy next. Again, it seems like there is more of this genre than ever before (probably because there is), you can't say a few of these aren't actually pretty awesome reads.

One happens to be Marie Lu's LEGEND (2011, Putnam Juvenile). In a future, plague-addled Los Angeles, the polar ice caps have melted, flooding the Earth and leaving behind two factions in North America:  the Republic and the Colonies.

In the Republic, where all 10-year olds are required to submit to a trial to test mental and physical abilities, 15-year-old June stands out. It's not just because she's the only one to score a perfect 1500 on her trial exams, but due to her ability to pull off the kind of over the top skills that would make a Navy Seal drool. If it weren't for her passionate loyalty to the Republic, she might not get away with it.

Her older brother, Matias, isn't so crazy about her abilities, though. With their parents dead, he feels responsible for his 15 year old sister, despite her training to become part of the Republic forces alongside him.

The other side of this story is told by Day, a 15 year old boy from the poor side of town who failed his trials and somehow escaped the labor camps where failures are sent. His own skills have made him a legend as well, from disrupting Republic bases, stealing Republic Notes (money) and making the Republic look bad in a way that has led to his becoming a rebel celebrity.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Each of these legendary kids is on opposite paths to the future when their trajectories collide. Trying to steal plague cure for his family, Day is involved in a confrontation that leaves Matias dead. Now June is out for his blood. But when they come face to face, these two legends may be more alike than either of them can let themselves believe.

Long on my to-be-read-list, we picked up this book in London's Foyles during spring break and my 13 year old son read it cover to cover on the plane ride back to the States.

The story was inspired by the movie verso of Les Miserables. In January, Lu told TIME FOR KIDS:

"...I thought it would be really interesting to write a teenage version of Jean Valjean versus Javert—a [story about a] criminal versus some sort of detective-like character. At the time, I already had a picture in my head of a character that was a teenage criminal. But I’d never quite found the right story for him until I watched the movie. That is where it originally started. The dystopian setting for the book came about when I saw a map online of what the world would look like if all the [polar ice caps] in the world melted and the oceans rose. That gave me the inspiration for the flooded version of the Republic. Those two things combined to inspire Legend."

The movie rights sold before the book even released and is in development with CBS Films with Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey running the show. He's excited enough about it to throw down a "it's going to blow The Hunger Games movie out of the water" gauntlet, but this was uttered before records were broken, so the world shall see.

Book 2 comes out this fall.

Matched by Ally Condie

As far as dystopian goes, there are many out there for YA readers right now (my recent reviews seem to be filled with them). In the MATCHED trilogy (Penguin, 2011) a future Society maintains complete control so that all needs are met, disease is eliminated, nutrition is regulated and everyone knows exactly when they will die.

Genetic curation through the Matching process (i.e. scientifically arranged marriages) allows the Society to give citizens a healthy, long life — one without freedom to choose — and with a defined ending even if your body is able to live beyond 80.

Cassia Reyes has just found out that her match happens to be her best friend Xander. This is unusual, as most girls have never met their match until the matching banquet, so she feels very lucky. But when she looks at the match data traditionally distributed to matches so they can get to know each other, a flash of another face (an alternate match?) shows up on the screen.

This hint that the process may not be as perfect as it seems sets Cassia's mind down a dangerous path. The other boy, Ky, is only an acquaintance, and Cassia soon learns he has more of a mysterious past than she knew. Could the Society have made a mistake? Was Ky meant to be her match? This seed of doubt grows after her grandfather's 80th birthday and he reveals to her that he and her grandmother didn't always follow the Society's rules.

The Society only allowed the preservation of 100 songs, poems, stories, paintings, (etc),  and the ones kept were chosen for a reason. A stolen poem is her grandfather's last gift to her, and the secret feeds the fire of rebellion in Cassia's heart.

A deeply woven story of self-discovery in a time reminiscent of many other futuristic utopian stories (funny how those NEVER work out), MATCHED is one of those dystopians that prove HUNGER GAMES might have re-introduced today's readers to the genre, but there are unlimited ways to tell such stories.

Book 2, CROSSED, is out and the third book REACHED comes out in the fall.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It was the concept behind THE FUTURE OF US (Razorbill, 2011) that totally sold me. Well, that and my YA author crush on Jay Asher (13 REASONS WHY). 

In TFOU, it's 1996 — before the Internet is a part of our daily life and requires dialing in through AOL. With one click of the mouse, lifelong friends and neighbors Josh and Emma discover what the Internet, and their futures, will be like.

Things have been awkward between the two since they got their wires crossed about taking their friendship to another level, and so Josh is hesitant to take the new AOL disk to Emma when it arrives in the mail. But his mom insists. They install it on her new computer and Emma discovers a very strange website. Turns out it's Facebook. Which, of course, doesn't exist. Yet.

Reading status updates and friend comments on their FB pages fifteen years in the future gives Josh and Emma a glimpse at what will become of their relationship, and it's not a pretty sight. Emma starts to realize that everything they do, in reaction to what they now know, starts to change things -- in the present and on their Facebook futures. How much control do they really have over where they end up? How much do they want to have?

It's an interesting way of not only letting today's teens get a taste for what it was like to be a teen before texting, chat and social media became primary ways to communicate. And while the situations stay just this side of eye-roll-inducing "back when I was your age" fare (what? you couldn't surf the Net and talk on the phone at the same time? what? you couldn't see pictures right after you took them? wha-what?) the idea of looking into the future through the lens of Facebook should inspire some contemplation.

While far from the edgy and socially conscious 13 REASONS WHY, Asher and Mackler (THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS) weave an intriguing story. It's interesting that even in the past, Facebook becomes an emotional time-suck for Emma, revealing slivers of truth that cause her to feel and behave differently than she would if she didn't "know" things -- about herself, her friends and how their lives will dramatically change. 

And there's always the question of how much do you WANT to know about your future. Because once you know, you can never UNknow. And does the simple act of knowing (even if you take no action) change the way things would have unfolded? 

Deep thoughts. An entertaining and interesting book.

The characters are in high school (and do high school-age things) but 7th and 8th graders (struggling with the ease and danger that technology and social media bring to communication) will love it too.