Brave+New+Worlds

The unifying theme of this annotated book list is dystopian literature for young adults. While all of the books on this list belong to this sub-genre, each brings a unique perspective to a social issue relevant to modern society. In selecting a book from this list, students are expected not only to identify the current trend, social norm, socio-political system, or a combination of these factors that has been exaggerated in the selected text but also to critically analyze the author's purpose and effectiveness in doing so.

** Annotated Book List ** In a future where fossil fuels have been exhausted and once bustling coastal cities now lie beneath the risen seas, Nailer, 17, survives by scavenging ancient oil tankers along the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. After a violent storm, he happens upon the find of a lifetime: a newly wrecked, high-tech clipper ship. What he discovers inside, however, will test not only his survival instincts but also his humanity.
 * Bacigalupi, Paolo. //Ship Breaker//. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers-Hachette, 2011. Print.**

Each citizen of the Society has been relieved of the "burden" of choice. Cassie has never questioned the Officials who decide what she eats, where she will work, whom she will marry, and, ultimately, when she will die. She is pleased to be matched with her best friend, Xander, but when she plugs in her Match microcard and the face of another boy flashes on the screen her faith in the Society is suddenly cast into doubt. What dark secrets of the Society are being hidden from her?
 * Condie, Ally. //Matched//. New York: Speak-Penguin, 2011. Print.**

Having mastered the ins and outs of his school's security network, teen hacker Marcus, aka "w1n5t0n," thinks he knows how to outsmart the system. But when he is inadvertently apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and cruelly interrogated for several days in a secret prison following a terrorist task, Marcus realizes that society has become a police state in which every citizen is treated as a potential threat. Upon his release, Marcus is determined to take down this oppressive system of surveillance and reclaim the liberties of the not-so-distant past.
 * Doctorow, Cory. //Little Brother//. New York: Tor, 2008. Print.**

The year is 2076: Welcome to the United //Safer// States of America (USSA), where guns, alcohol, obesity, large dogs, tattoos, and even football are illegal. After Bo Marsten, 16, loses his temper at school, he is shipped off to a prison camp in the frozen Canadian tundra to make pizzas for McDonald's. There, Bo is recruited to play for the prison's illegal football team and earn a chance to reduce his sentence, but the sadistic warden is intent on the team winning at any cost.
 * Hautman, Pete. //Rash//. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. Print.**

Forget Facebook. The future of social networking is called Unison—at least for those who can afford it. Living beneath the ceiling that separates the haves from the have-nots in Eastern Seaboard City, 15-year-old Mistletoe can only dream of the wonders of Unison and the technological luxuries of the world above. Yet after she rescues Ambrose Truax, heir to the Unison empire, Mistletoe finds herself racing to uncover the mystery of her true identity and the hidden dangers of the impending Unison 3.0 update.
 * Marino, Andy. //Unison Spark//. New York: Henry Holt and Company (BYR), 2011. Print.**

Following the second Great Depression, college has become inaccessible to all but the super-rich. A month away from graduating high school, Imani has worked hard to keep her "score" high enough to qualify for a full scholarship—her only shot at going to college—but her best friend's falling score is threatening to bring down Imani's too. In a world controlled by the all-seeing Score Corp, Imani must decide between her friendship and her future.
 * McLaughlin, Lauren. //Scored//. New York: Ember-Random House, 2011. Print.**

Rat, Raphael, and Gardo live on the outskirts of a futuristic city picking through mountains of trash with thousands of other homeless "dumpsite boys." When one of the boys discovers a wallet belonging to an important official, the trio is swept up into a dangerous conspiracy. Can they solve the mystery and right an awful wrong before the corrupt police catch up to them?
 * Mulligan, Andy. //Trash//. New York: Ember-Random House, 2011. Print.**

The Second Civil War has been fought between the armies of the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. The two sides reached an agreement on reproductive rights: The Bill of Life outlaws abortion, but permits parents to have their children "unwound" between the ages of 13 and 18. While these children remain "technically" alive, all of their body parts are harvested and "donated" to various people in need. When Connor discovers his parents have signed him up to be unwound, he flees, eventually crossing paths with two other runaway "Unwinds." Together they may have what it takes to survive.
 * Shusterman, Neal. //Unwind//. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009. Print.**

At the end of the twenty-first century, the genetically engineered "Partials" rebelled against their human masters and unleashed a weaponized virus that wiped out 99 percent of the human race. The last North American survivors, immune to the virus, are living in a stronghold on Long Island—but time is running out. No baby has been born immune to the virus in over a decade. Determined to discover the cure, 16-year-old medical intern Kira sets out on a harrowing journey to post-apocalyptic Manhattan to capture a Partial.
 * Wells, Dan. //Partials//. New York: Balzer & Bray-HarperCollins, 2013. Print.**

Tally has spent her entire life as one of the "Uglies." Now, on the verge of turning sixteen, she is eagerly awaiting the mandatory operation that will make her a "Pretty" and thereby grant her access to a pleasure-seeking paradise. However, her dreams are interrupted when her best friend Shay runs away to a secret community of people who reject the operation. Tally is given a choice: Find Shay and expose the "rebels," or remain //ugly// for the rest of her life.
 * Westerfeld, Scott. //Uglies//. New York: Simon Pulse-Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.**

Annotation sources: Amazon.com, Goodreads, and Common Sense Media.

–Larry Ransom-Wiley, 6/17/13