Uglies

Title: Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2005
Number of Pages: 425
Genre: Young Adult fiction (grade 6 and up)
Geographical Setting: United States, location is unclear, near a large city Time Period: future
Series: yes, first in trilogy

Plot: In the future, people have learned ways to avoid war and destruction of the earth by the wastefulness of human beings. Their cities care take care of them, every need can be fulfilled. At the age of sixteen, each citizen gets an operation to turn them from an Ugly to a Pretty. But Tally, soon to be turned pretty, begins to question if the equality of the pretty world comes at too high of a price.

Subject Headings: science fiction, authoritarianism, individuality, conformity, free will

Appeal: futuristic society including “hoverboards” and “hovercars,” operation that re-sculpts the body and face/features to create “ideal” of beauty including light skin and symmetry of the face, dystopian image of the future, disquieting vision of our current society (known as the “Rusties” in the future): the wastefulness of the Rusties with their natural resources compounded by a virus that destroys all petroleum leads to their demise, fast-moving first book of a trilogy and cliffhanger ending.

If you liked Uglies, you might enjoy: Lois Lowry’s The Giver, M.T. Anderson’s Feed, Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book of the Universe, Ned Vizzini’s Be More Chill, Ellen Dee Davidson’s Stolen Voices, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New Word

The Chocolate War

Title: The Chocolate War
Author: Robert Cormier
Publication date: 1974
Number of pages: 272
Genre: Young Adult fiction
Geographical Setting: New England (fictional Monument, Massachusetts)
Time Period: early 197os
Series: sequel Beyond the Chocolate War

Plot Summary: Jerry Renault is a high school freshman at the all-boys Trinity Catholic and has recently lost his mother to cancer. The secret society of The Vigils, made up of students, rule the school. The Vigils assign tasks of cruel pranks to students with no option to disobey. The acting headmaster, Brother Leon, has decided to secretly recruit them to help with the annual school chocolate sale. Brother Leon expects the students to sell much more than they had in the past in order to protect his overspending of the school budget for the sale. The Vigils assign Jerry to boycott the chocolate sale for ten days. After the ten days, Jerry decides to defy The Vigils, Brother Leon and the school by continuing his refusal to sell the chocolates. His defiance is not accepted lightly.

Subject Headings: bullying, hazing, Catholic school, defiance of authority, pessimism, individuality, peer pressure

Appeal: all-boys Catholic school setting, struggle to be an individual in the face of power structure of an institution, lack of parental involvement, often on banned books list, winner of several awards including ALA Best Books for Young Adults and a New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year, 1988 movie adaptation, book for boys, standing up to bullies, death of a parent to cancer

If you liked The Chocolate War, you might enjoy: William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. Walter Dean Myer’s Shooter.

The Catcher in the Rye

Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger
Publication date: 1951
Number of pages: 288
Genre: fiction

Geographical Setting: New York City, Agerstown, PA, a sanatorium in California

Time Period: shortly after WWII, late 1940s/early 1950s
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Holden Caulfield narrates his experiences in New York City following his expulsion from a prep school. Holden tells his story a year later from a mental facility in Hollywood. He criticizes the other students and faculty of his school as “phony” and describes leaving in the middle of the night to take a train to New York. Instead of returning to his family right away, he checks into a derelict hotel. His days in the city involve loneliness and drunkenness and beatings. He loathes the hypocrisy of the world around him but idealizes the innocence and purity of children like his sister.

Subject Headings: conformity, growing up, cynicism, idealism, brother/sister relationships, individualism, mental breakdown, prostitute

Appeal: often on banned books lists, coming of age, first person narrative, slang and obscene language, self-reflection after mental breakdown, sexual experiences

If you liked The Catcher in the Rye, you might enjoy: Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.