Sci-Fi

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
Genre: Sci-fi, dystopia
Author Info: Patrick is an America who now spends his time living in England. He writes fantasy and sci-fi for young adults. He is also a literary critic for The Guardian. Patrick has his own website (www.patrickness.com) and is also on Twitter and Facebook. Most recently he became a British citizen. His books have been well received by critics and fans alike. The movie rights to his series Chaos Walking were recently purchased by Lions Gate and he has high hopes that it will be turned into a movie.
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.
Curriculum Ties: n/a
Reading Level/Interest Level: Due to the language and the content I would say that the reading level is 9th grade and up. Because it's dystopia it may appeal to younger Hunger Games fans but I would probably recommend it to older teens due to the violence and language.
Challenge Issues: The book has swearing and violence and Aaron, the town's pastor, is portrayed in a bad light. Some may find his character as an attack on Christian or religious values.

Title: Across the Universe 
Author: Beth Revis
Other books in the series: A Millions Suns, Shades of Earth (release date of Jan. 2013)
ISBN:
Publication info:
Genre: sci-fi
Author Info: Beth Revis is an American author whose debut book, Across the Universe, became a huge hit and has written two more books in the series. Beth wrote a lot of work prior to her debut but they were never published. Beth also maintains a website and her own blog. She is currently writing and touring the United States promoting her books. She also participates in a group blog with other debut dystopian writers. Before becoming a writer Beth taught school for six years.
Plot Summary: Amy and her parents are being frozen and stored on a spaceship called Godspeed. The ship will travel 300 years to another planet and when they reach their destination her family will be unfrozen to help start a new civilization. Though somehow Amy is woken up 50 years to soon to find that things are not how they should be on Godspeed. What she finds is a disturbing society controlled by an all powerful Eldest. She also learns that her accidental unfreezing may not have been an accident and she fears that her parents may be next. She is weary about trusting, Elder, the next in the line of power, but what choice does she have? She is stuck on a ship lightyears away from everything she knows. Can she save her parents or will they die without ever reaching the new planet?
Critical Review: The book has many twists and turns that leave you wondering and it ends with more questions than answers. The plot is complex and at times it can be a bit confusing. I enjoyed the fact that it's told from both the perspective of Amy and Elder, it gives the reader a better idea of how both the characters feel and deal with certain situations.
Reader's Annotation: Would you leave your home and everything you know to start a new civilization 300 hundred lightyears away? That's what Amy is doing, she is being frozen along with her parents to start a new world. But what happens with things don't go as planned?
Book Talk Ideas: The book talk can focus on Amy's choice to leave Earth in hopes of a new world. How does one deal with leaving everything they know behind for something unknown? What will Amy find and what if it isn't what she expected, can she live with her choices. Would you make the same choice.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Challenge Issues: There is some graphic sex scenes in the book that some may find objectional.

Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox 
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publishing Info: Henry Holt and Co., 2008
ISBN: 0805076689
Other books in the series: The Fox Inheritance
Awards: Golden Kite Award for Fiction (2009)
Genre: Sci-fi, Dystopia 
Author Info: Mary E. Pearson lives in California with her husband, two golden retrievers. She has grown daughters and says that motherhood was the hardest job she's ever had. She also credits her teachers for their support and turning her into a writer. Mary graduated with an art degree and worked for a bit as an artist. She eventually went back to school to get her teaching credential and taught school. She said it was teaching that pushed her back into writing stories. She now writes full time from her home in California.
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?
Reading/Interest Level: It's not a difficult read, upper middle school probably on the reading level. The content would have a higher appeal to older high school students due to it's content that deals heavily with ethics, morality and death.
Curriculum Ties: The book would tie in nicely with an ethics discussion in a psychology or science class.
Challenge Issues: There is a lot of talk of ethically choices and how far science should go to prolong a life or save a person.
Addressing Challenge Issues:
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.

Title: Ender's Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Other Books in the series: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Ender's Shadow, Children of the Mind
Publishing Info: Tor Science Fiction, 1994
ISBN: 0812550706
Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1986), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1985)
Genre: Sci-Fi, adult crossover
Author Info: Orson Scott Card was born in Washington and moved around when he grew up. He went on a mission trip to Brazil as part of the LDS Church. He writes sci-fi, fantasy and even some religious works. He also teaches writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. Orson currently lives in Virginia with his wife and his youngest son.
Plot Summary: Andrew 'Ender' Wiggins is child prodigy living with his two parents, his sadistic and cruel brother Peter and his sister Valentine. The government has an agency whose whole purpose is to find young child prodigies to train into soldiers to protect the Earth from another attack by the alien invaders, the Buggers. Initially Peter and Valentine are chosen but they do not make the initial cuts and instead Ender is chosen. Ender is taken away from his family and becomes one of the youngest recruits. Being the youngest prodigy at a school that thrives on competition is not fun for Ender and he struggles to not only deal with his peers but the expectations set on him by his teachers. Can Ender become the great leader they want him to be and if so can he save the world from the Buggers?
Critical Review: The story is one that has you captivated till the end and when the major plot twist is revealed the reader is caught off guard and shocked by what has happend. As you are reading it is easy to forgot just how young Ender is through out the story which when you think of what Ender deals with and what he does it is slightly disturbing. Orson Scott Card definitely shows the ugliness of war and the destruction that can happen when people seek revenge over peace.
Reader Annotation: Andrew 'Ender' Wiggins is take from his home at a very young age to be trained as a soldier in the hopes the he may one day help fight the alien invaders, the Buggers who Earth has been battling. But what seems like harmless games to train Ender turn out to be something more how will Ender react?
Book Talking Ideas: For a book talk the focus could be on a few different things, the relationship of Ender and his younger sister Valentine who he struggles with leaving behind. It could also focus on the aspect of training young children to be soldiers, is this ethical?
Reading/Interest Level: High school
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Challenge Issues: The book is quite violent and Ender kills some of his fellow students, as well as the entire Bugger race.