Summer Reading 2017 The List

I've seen several reviews saying that this is a good book to recommend to readers who enjoyed The Giver. They were right. In this vision of the world after "the Melting," only the words on the approved List are allowed to be spoken. The wordsmith and his apprentice curate the other words, carefully filing them away after his trips out into the wilderness to look for remnants of print. Just as Jonas learns from the Giver as memories are shared, Letta learns from Benjamin as he teaches her his craft. Their stories are also similar in the way the younger characters become more frustrated and disillusioned with their society as they come to see its flaws. And, of course, there is the inevitable clash with authority when their sense of what is right impels them to act.

For teachers looking for a book with themes to explore, The List has many to choose from. Ecology and man's impact on the environment, justice, the corruption of power, language and the power of words, humanity, responsibility, coming of age...There really is something for almost everyone.

If you enjoy stories full of complex relationships, characters determined to do the right thing even at personal risk, and books that make you really think about what it means to be human - then you need a copy of The List. 

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.