Ah, young love!

Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I would share two of my favorite YA (young adult, middle school, 6th grade and up) series. And, of course, they involve romance! I think these are pretty well known among teenagers, but maybe not by adults.

Divergent by Veronica Roth





Beatrice (Tris) prior lives in a futuristic dystopian society. Of course she does! This is current YA lit, after all! When the children in this society turn 16, they must choose between the five factions that make up the society - Candor, Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, and Dauntless. But before this choice happens, they take a test that tells them their aptitude level for the different factions. When Tris takes her test, she learns that she is actually Divergent, which is very, very dangerous in this world. Divergent people are killed. The woman giving Tris the test helps her to hide this discovery, and Tris must now make her choice....which may involve completely rejecting her family....and she must hide the fact that she is Divergent.

Of course, Tris's Divergent abilities put her in great danger, and this book is a wild ride of excitement, thrills, a romance for Tris, and LOTS of violence. I could not put either one of them down, but sometimes I read with one hand over my eyes. I'm not much of one for violent books, but this is just a lot of fun. If I have to compare it to something that most people are familiar with, it is more violent than The Hunger Games. There is no sex in Divergent, but there is sex in Insurgent. It is not graphic at all, but it is there.

This will be a trilogy, so there is one more book to come.

One of my favorite exchanges from substituting this year came from this book. I had a student at the middle school who was reading it, and I said....

Me: Have you seen the memes about this book?
Her: (long pause) OMG, I have never had a substitute who used the word meme.
Me: I'm not your average substitute.

:)

I was talking about this. Funny.



There are lots of Divergent memes that are fun to peruse. http://divergentmemes.tumblr.com/

Next suggestion...

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Cinder, Scarlet, so far)





Cinder gets my nomination for most eye-catching cover from last year. When I've had the book with me, everyone picks it up to see what it is about. Who can resist that robot leg going into that gorgeous shoe?

Meyer is having a fabulous time with fracturing fairy tales here, and it is so much fun to read. Cinder is a cyborg (half robot, half human) in the city of New Beijing, and she lives with....yes, her mean old step-mother and step-sisters! How did you guess? She is a mechanic who just can't seem to remember much of her past. When Prince Kai comes in unexpectedly to have his android repaired, he can't seem to keep his eyes off of her. Cyborgs are very much despised in this society, and Cinder is very well practiced at hiding her robotic hand and leg. She tries to keep him at arms length, but he is determined to get to know her.

Of course, it is not as simple as that. The evil Lunar Queen Levana is determined to marry Prince Kai and take over the Earth. And, of course, whether Cinder knows it or not, she is not just your average blue-collar android mechanic.

Scarlet continues the story when Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf step into the picture. When I first read that this would be the sequel, I had a sinking feeling and wondered how she could work this character into Cinderella's story without it seeming forced. The book came out last Wednesday, and I finished it last night. I am not concerned about that anymore! It makes total sense in this YA fantasy world and is once again, a lot of fun.

These books are not as violent as Roth's books, and there is (so far) no sex. There is some kissing, but it is very innocent to this point. There is one point in the second book where a bad guy (a big bad wolf, of course) has Scarlet pinned down and says "I could take advantage of you now if I didn't want to kill you," or something to that affect...but then she is snatched from the jaws of danger. I say all of that to say that this book is like Hunger Games. It walks the line of ALMOST being suitable for the elementary library, but not quite. I guess. It is a close call. Would I let my OWN child read it at 4th or 5th grade? Yes.

There are two more books to come in this series, Cress and Winter.