Uglies Trilogy (books 2 & 3)

Title: Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2005
Number of pages: 384
Genre: young adult science fiction
Geographical setting: North America, possibly in the area of California
Time period: far into the future
Series: second in the Uglies trilogy

Plot: After her surgery to make her a Pretty, Tally Youngblood struggles against the brain lesions that work to keep her “bubble-headed” and unquestioning. She has forgotten her promise to test out the cure from the Smokies—until the delivery of the pills and the letter Tally wrote to herself. Too afraid to take the pills alone, her new boyfriend Zane convinces her to share with him. As they begin to stay focused more and more, plans are made to escape their city and find the New Smoke. Tally’s escape leads to frightening discoveries of what the Specials have been doing in the name of human progress and preservation.

Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2006
Number of pages: 384
Genre: young adult science fiction
Geographical setting: North America, possibly in the area of California
Time period: far into the future
Series: final book of the Uglies trilogy

Plot: Sixteen year old Tally Youngblood has had the surgery that has made her a part of the elite and extra-special clique, the Cutters. The Cutters have superfast reflexes and strength—and sport frightening “surges” making them look more fearsome than the regular agents of the secret police, Special Circumstances. Tally finally fits in but she still feels like something is missing. She soon finds herself struggling between what the City has made her to be and what she once was, now buried deep under all of the surgeries and manipulations.

Appeal: post-apocalyptic series for young adults; questioning of the price of popularity and fitting in/conformity; exciting descriptions of future technologies and luxuries; the Cutters slice themselves with ritual knives in order to enhance there already super-tuned reflexes and strength

Tags: brainwashing, survival, troubled teens, dystopia, science fiction, cutting, body image, plastic surgery, conformity, cliques, self-induced starvation, series, post-apocalyptic, overconsumption

If you liked Uglies Trilogy, you might enjoy: Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue, Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in the Universe, John Christopher’s White Mountains, Peter Dickinon’s Eva

Unwind

Title: Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publication date: 2007
Number of pages: 352
Genre: young adult dystopian fiction
Geographical setting: North America
Time period: undated future, post “Heartland War” (the Second Civil War)
Series: N/A

Plot: To make peace and end the Heartland War, the federal government has outlawed abortion-- but with a catch. Parents can choose to have their children “unwound,” a retroactive abortion. The compromise is that every part and organ of the “unwind” must be used so that they are not really dead, but rather live on in a “divided state” in the many bodies of those who need their organs and limbs. Seen as a trouble maker and a hotheaded teen by his fed up parents, Connor is set to be transported to a “harvest camp” to be unwound. When he makes a daring escape, he begins a dangerous journey cross-country with fellow “unwind” Risa, a state ward. The only things that can save them from being unwound are living in hiding and making it to their eighteenth birthdays.

Appeal: Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2008); ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Top Ten (2008); ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2008); fast-paced; Shusterman presents a terrifying future that does not seem so impossible.

Tags: survival, dystopia, abortion, civil war, science fiction, organ harvesting, runaways, orphans, troubled teens

If you liked Unwind, you might enjoy: Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Stories, Gail Giles’ Right Behind You, Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox

So Yesterday

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2004
Number of pages: 240
Genre: young adult fiction
Geographical setting: New York City
Time period: present, early 2000s
Series: N/A

Plot: Seventeen-year-old Hunter stalks and tracks “cool.” Or to put it better, he is a “cool hunter.” When he notices the originality of how a girl in the park ties her shoelaces, he knows he has met an Innovator. This encounter with Jen James leads to a fast-paced adventure as amateur detectives where they try to rescue a possibly kidnapped friend and attempt to unravel a plot to sabotage the consumer culture in which Hunter is an important player.

Subject headings: mystery and detective stories, fashion, coolness, fads, consumerism, advertising, literature for boys, kidnapping, focus groups

Appeal: first person narrative, references to popular fashion and culture, detective story for modern teens, science fiction elements of the re-wiring of people’s brains and ways of thinking through gadgets and subliminal advertising

If you liked So Yesterday, you may enjoy: M.T Anderson’s Feed; Connie Willis’s Bellwether