When the Silence Fell by Christopher Francis

 

Genre:  Young Adult, Dystopian

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Christopher Francis has quickly become one of my favorite dystopian writers.  Mara is a survivor. She lives in a world coated with ash and silence.  She is on a journey to find her brother Gabe and her sister Cami. They left one day to find supplies and never returned. Now all she wants to do is survive and find them. Sometimes  life doesn't go as planned. When Mara finds a young boy named Silas, things change.  Silas has a device that leads him from one relay point to another. She is not sure how or why only he can receive the signal, but she is sticking with him to protect him and to hopefully locate her brother and sister.  Along the way she and Silas are saved by Jared, a young man they had encountered before. They also rescue a young girl who seems to be reacting to the signals the way a lot of adults do before they become hollow.

I kept reading to know more about the sickness and the signals and each of the characters we meet along the way. I kept reading to find out how a world could go so wrong, how adults who seem so ready to help and protect can be just the opposite. Although the ending was tied up neatly, it left us waiting for the next book in this series. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Genre: animals, dystopian, fables 
Source: I own a copy

Some of our students read Animal Farm in their history class last year. I felt it was time I reread the book since I plan to teach it in my English class this year.  George Orwell gives us a book that on the surface seems like a simple book of animals rising up against their owner due to his cruel treatment. If you actually read and analyze the book it is a mirror of a totalitarian society. This was Orwell’s way of protesting.

We have the story of Mr. Jones, a drunk who doesn’t feed his animals when he is drunk, which is often. Before Old Major the head pig dies he tells the animals that humans are evil. They take what they want and they don’t produce anything. He tells them they need to ban together. He dies and that is what they do. Unfortunately Napoleon and Snowball are the smart pigs. They begin twisting Old Major’s ideas to benefit themselves.  You can see where this is heading.  Orwell has shown what happens when people, or animals like Napoleon do things for the “good” of the people/animals, then become power hungry.  I hope my students like this as much as I did rereading this.

Drawing Freedom by Felicia Ketcheson

 

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is the second book in this excellent series. Reading it reminded me of "The Hunger Games", and "The Giver" all rolled into one. Breel is a young girl  who managed to fight back against the President and his rules. The only thing she wanted to do was be free to draw. Unfortunately, anything you can think of that you do for fun would be a crime in her world. This second book gives us more background into the early years of President Tatum's rise from poverty to President of Lexum. We get to see how wicked and corrupt he has always been. 

This group of rebels have gone all out in their mission to take down the President. They have a new ally willing to help them. Clonis is President Tatum's only surviving brother. It is obvious he believes his brother needs to be taken out. Why?  Well you will need to read the book to find out why. Breel gets to use her drawing abilities to try   to persuade others to join their cause.  This is one of those books that will stick with you long after you have finished it. The tension in it is high to keep you reading. The only thing that makes me sad is that I will now have to wait for the next book to come out.  If you like dystopian books then you are going to love this one.