Splash into Summer: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

My first book about selkies and it was definitely better than I thought it would be. Although the romance of it was a bit OVER THE TOP and Edward/Belle-esque, I enjoyed the story of a selkie torn between the sea he loves and the girl he's lured into being with him.

I thought this story was going to be told through the eyes of the selkie male (named by his 'captor' Eamon) and, it was. However, it is also told through the eyes of the girl, Kait and it seems that it is Kait's story that receives most of the attention in it we find a girl being forced to follow conventions and marry. Her parents have died and it would seem her twin brother Blair thinks he is doing her a favor by setting her up before he pursues his own bride. He believes this to be especially true since Kait's best friend has a baby that isn't quite human, and, because it was thrown out to sea to drown the selkies want some sort of vengeance. Eamon, too, is trapped by duty and a fear of humans, except for he can't stay away from Kait for too long.

It's pretty cool that this story takes place on the island of Shapinsay during the same time period that Balfour Castle was being built, the middle 1800s, when people still believed in faeries and the evil of witches. Kait learns that to keep Eamon with her, she must steal his selkie coat, and hide it in a place that no one would ever look. This is what human men have been doing to beautiful selkie women for ages and it works in reverse, but at what cost. While Eamon and Kait love one another and are bound to one another it must be determined if this love is strong enough to live through so much on both sides of the equation.

Although predictable (what love story isn't?), the ending has a twist that I truly enjoyed. I look forward to reading more lovie-dovie romances by Krista Holle and I need to find more books about selkies, as I don't know any of their legends and lore. I feel like I'm behind the times and must go watch The Secret of Roan Inish and Ondine immediately.

4 Stars   

The over the top romance and Scottish accents (so hard to do successfully on paper) kind of did me in, I do think that my students will like the romance of this book, and if you're looking for a different sort of paranormal and mermaids are too fluffy, I'd suggest a selkie book.

Teacher Advisories
Sex 4/5 
When selkies are on land they are truly naked...um, they don't seem to mind. There's lots of lips touching soft  skin and warm touches and such and Eamon's nude the whole time. There's also a human male who won't leave Kait alone. Kait and Eamon marry and sleep in the same bed. Eamon refers to having sex as 'humping'. They have sex on the beach and in a bed. There's lots of nudity...not written dirtly at all...but it's still there. I'm curious about its YA classification...it seems grown-up in this respect...
Language 0/5 
Nothing.
Substance Abuses 2/5
There's a bonfire where there's drinking. There's some more drinking at the tavern. And, then they drink again. Ah, come on, it's Scotland in the 1800s!!!
Violence 5/5
Blair abuses Kait often, he holds her down or drags her off. I get that he's trying to protect her, but wow, that's controlling and abrasive! Magnum kisses Kate and treats her like property. A baby is drowned, a girl commits suicide. Selkie women are dragged off to be wives. A Selkie man is forced to be a husband, but then he grows to love her...he loved her already actually, but still.

Touchy Subjects
Coerced Relationships
It is selkie lore that in order to trap a selkie and keep them on land you must steal and hide their coat. This makes any selkie relationship a sad affair, especially if that selkie doesn't want to be kept on land.
Brutality towards women
Blair also seems to think that he can force Kait into marrying who he deems fit. He does this by force. It seems that women are not allowed to make choices and they are brutally coerced into making the 'right' choices.

Suicide
After her baby is murdered by its grandfather a woman takes her own life, she is that overcome with grief.

Judgment and Profiling
Humans think that selkies are evil and at the beginning of the book this is shown through the murder of a little selkie baby.



How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Everblue by Brenda Pandos

I have no idea why I wanted to read this book. I think I was totally drawn in by the cover; isn't it beautiful? And, then I realized I could get a mermaid book for ever so cheap ($.99 as an ebook on the Nook) and, well, I do love a mermaid book on the cheap.

I love the setting of this book. It's so cool to think that living amongst everyday average people are merpeople and that there are gates to another world where they live and thrive with rules and cities different than our own. I also loved how the gate we see the most is in Lake Tahoe...so VERY different than the other books. I like how the world is created with air bubbles in homes so there can be furniture and human creature comforts. I also like the characters (even though one of the merboys is named Fin...yes, Fin, as in I have one), frankly, I especially like Fin the most of all.

So, if I like all those things about it...why the low-rating? why the dislike? Let me see if I can break it down.

1. The execution of the story
This story is paced like it's a 500 page novel. With little details given over time and/or large chunks given over to explanation of a thing that isn't important at that moment. This book takes up practically a whole year.

2. The back and forth narration doesn't work
I enjoyed the change of narrator in Tangled Tides, it flowed and I got to know the characters. In this book the narration doesn't stay with one character enough for me to get into the story and I found myself rereading a part or a section just to see if I missed something.

3. It's treatment of boys and girls...relationships...men and women
If a mermaid is bonded to a boy once they kiss (an idea I do not mind...mated for life is highly romantic), isn't a forced kiss, well, rape? Ick. That's all I could

4. The strangely forced Christian slant
I am a Christian and I like being one...I don't like Christian just being thrown in for the sake of good Christianness. It just threw me off and...actually made me a little uncomfortable, like I was hanging out with my mother and I was 13 all over again.

Everything about this book has rubbed me the wrong way...I'm not sure I need to read the rest of the series (although I've just downloaded Evergreen, I don't know why...it was cheap). I always feel bad when I genuinely don't like a book, mostly because I'm not really sure if I could do better if I tried and here a person has given their heart and soul and all I can do is read it and bash it. I've also read tons of other reviews, hoping those 4s and 5s (and there are a lot of them) would help me see the story differently. Sometimes I'd read a review and think..."Did we read the same book?". That being said, I do hope you try out this book for yourself and if you rank it higher than me please tell me why, I'd really like to know. I think I would have liked this book better had it been the first mermaid book I'd ever read and not the latest.

I felt sad that for my Splash into Summer week, I chose to read two books that weren't what I thought they would be. On to my first truly selkie book, The Lure of Shapinsay!

2 Stars

A good character or two, nice setting...I don't really like anything else about it

Sex 2/5

I really do find that forced kissing thing deplorable. Fin and Ash kiss...as he is trying to save her life, so they're bonded too. 

Language 0/5

None.

Substance Abuses 0/5

None, this really is a nice clean book.

Violence 3/5

The king and his son get into it. The son is a lech, and he picks a fight or two with Fin. It would seem that the whole entire mer kingdom is being led by a lying, conniving father and son duo. Fin's family is also a bit greedy. He gets into a fight with his cousin, there's an explosion, Ash almost drowns and, then there's that whole entire kiss thing. then there was this big fight before the book begins where Fin's father frightens Ash so much that she thinks he's an alcoholic.


Touchy Subjects

Unwanted anything...
Even if somebody kisses you against your will that's still not cool. 

Secrets
Ash doesn't know that Fin and his sister, her best friend, are mermaids.
Religion
I am guessing that the overt Christianity probably gets this book some readers it wouldn't otherwise. It just seemed contrived and forceful to me.



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Sea Change by Aimee Freidman

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman is a beautiful story of the sea and of budding teen romance and coming-of-age in a small town in the South...it is a story of mystery, suspense, history and family. I can't really tell if it's a story about mermaids. I think it wants to be. I think it thinks it is. I'm not so sure.

Miranda comes from a long Southern family who vacations every year on Selkie (no there aren't any selkies in this book) Island. Miranda and her mother have gone back to the island to pack up their family home. While doing this Miranda falls for a local boy whose mysteriousness seems to be tied into a book of mermaids found on her grandmothers' bookshelf and to the island itself.

The story of Miranda's growth into a girl who becomes a young adult who doesn't just do what she's told and doesn't live in her life by stereotypes. I really liked how Friedman gives us that stereotypical Southern Belle and Southern Gentleman in several of the teen characters, but then she gives us characters who defy those stereotypes. I like that Miranda learns that just because you fight or disagree with your parents that doesn't mean they don't love you or that you don't love them. I especially love that there is a side of Miranda that she didn't even know existed and I love that her grandmother, even in her death, is helping her find that side.

Leo, a boy she meets on the coast of the island, is everything any girl wants in a man. He passionate and compassionate and good-looking, he loves all the things that she loves (science, sea creatures) and is from the island.

The only thing is, Leo, may or may not be a merman.

This is where Aimee Friedman lost me.

She spends all of this time setting up this mystery. Mercreatures are attracted to red and gold; the whole entire town of fishermen is decked out in red and gold. Leo is always mysteriously near water and has a vast knowledge of the lore and science surrounding the island. However, all of this back story never really comes to any type of conclusion.

I didn't mind the strange reason Miranda and Leo have a fight and I didn't mind how Miranda's mother seems to lose her mind once on the island flirting with an old flame and acting like a debutante. I did mind that this is supposed to be a mermaid story, even better a story about a merboy, and there's only a slight instant of tail fin. I don't mind connecting the dots in a mystery, but is it really a mystery if the author only just gives us a wee-bit to be curious about. In the end no questions are answered and, frankly, there are more questions asked. Is the guy on the ferry mer too? Is Miranda part mer? Was her grandmother and, in turn, her mother? At first, I thought that I had a bad copy of the book, that's how much is missing, but after reading other reviews I think this may be the intention of the novel. This book wants a sequel, although I hear there isn't one in the works at all.

This book has a lovely romance and is a great story of the growth of a girl who learns that things can live outside of her comfort zone and knowledge. If you are reading this book in the hopes of having a little mermaid action you may be disappointed. Maybe.

Review from Coffee and Cliffhangers

3 Stars
 
But, I was promised mermaids...*whine, whine, whine*

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

The connection between Leo and Miranda is pretty intense. They get close to going all the way a couple of times. One time he gets so fresh that she decides she no longer wants to see him, partly because it scares her and partly because he's so fresh. At least that's how I saw it. Miranda's new summer friends may or may not be true friends, one uses her sensuality to lure a guy away from Miranda.

Language 0/5

No cussing.

Substance Abuses 2/5

There are parties. There's underage drinking.

Violence 1/5

Miranda falls off a boat and is saved. There's some strife between the locals and the summer people.


Touchy Subjects

Science and Myth
Miranda's heart says that what she's reading and seeing couldn't possibly be true.

Secrets
Leo's family has secrets. Miranda's family has secrets. The town maybe hiding a big secret. The summer people have their share of secrets.
Relationships
Miranda's mother hasn't really told her a lot about her family and its history. Miranda's mother also acts pretty irresponsibly through-out the book, but expects Miranda to follow all her rules.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Day #1 and Giveaway

So, I've been waiting for this week for a little while now, I'm looking forward to reading reviews, and have already entered several giveaways for mermaid books and swag.

I have always loved mermaids.

          Let's talk about mermaids for a minute...if I wanted to get really embarrassed I'd show you pictures I drew when I was in elementary and junior high. I'm not going to do that, ever! I would like you to know that my deep love of all things mermaid started with the Sea Wees. We'd get a set of these toys everytime we'd go to Wal-Mart. They were perfect for bathtime play as they were mermaids who came with floaty sponges and their tails make excellent razors for fake leg shaving. I wish I had some...I guess I know what I'll be doing for a diversion today!

          And, there are so many good mermaid movies! I was totally enchanted with Splash as a kid (it wasn't until later I even recognized that this movie may not have been appropriate for a 7 year old...it had a friggin' mermaid, come on!), my niece and I just had a delightful discussion about Aquamarine, such a good movie about a teen mermaid, and I just watched for the first time Fishtales with Billy Zane, then there's the under-rated Lady in the Water. And, don't even get me started about The Little Mermaid, even if it is a "Disney-fide no one dies" version. I even like it when mermaids aren't so nice like in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Peter Pan!

Feel free to read: The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

Feel free to watch these Disney's Silly Symphonies...two of my favorite mermaid cartoons.

Tera Lynn Childs has also given me a great idea for a school project! More information can be found at: Books, Boys, Buzz

Character collages

Collage. I do this for every book. Because I'm a visual learner, I find it invaluable to have a pictorial compilation of my characters. Lots of writers do collages, but here's my method. You'll need some printer paper, scissors, a glue stick, and some magazines.

• Step One: Flip through as many magazines as possible. I like TeenVogue, CosmoGirl, InStyle, and Lucky the best. I tear out anything that reminds me of any of the characters in this book. I do collages for all of the main characters and most of the secondary ones, so as I tear stuff out I divide into piles by character. The more I have to choose from the better. At a minimum I need something that will make a good background, a headshot or two of and actor or model who looks like the character, and some clothing and accessories they would own.
• Step Two: Build the collage. Start by gluing down a background image that fills up most of the page (this way you won't end up with whitespace left over at the end). Then select a few of the headshot and clothing images, trim them to just the desired element, and arrange them over the background. I always lay these out before I glue so I make sure they all fit. Then snip out the small pictures and accessories and stick them wherever they fit.
• Step Three: Finalize the collage with words. This usually requires flipping back through the magazines looking for two things. 1) Words that resonate with your characters. 2) Ransom-note-type letters that you can cut out and use to form your character's name. Sometimes I even outline the letters of the name in a silver Sharpie to make it stand out more.

[Here's the linky if you are participating or want to read other mermaid posts]

“I have seen them riding seaward on the waves 
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back 
When the wind blows the water white and black. 

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea 
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown 
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.” 

― T.S. Eliot

If you, too, love mermaids, might I suggest going to distance and following the MerBooks blog. It can be found:

BLOG
TWITTER
GOODREADS

and join the reading challenge on Goodreads...here.

What mermaid books are you looking forward to reading or have read this year? Who is your favorite mermaid?

Teen Text Talk
July 9th     Introduction, Giveaway
July 10th   Review: Sea Change
July 11th   Review: Everblue
July 12th   Review: The Lure of Shapinsay
July 13th   Recap of Splash of Summer: favorite post, links and Giveaway winner announced Monday

Finally, come check out our giveaway...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a list of YA mermaid book to choose from:

1. Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
2. Sea Change by Aimee Friedman
3. Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper
4. Everblue by Brenda Pandos
5. Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau
6. Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson
7. The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
8. The Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson
9. Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
10. The Mermaid's Mirror by LK Madigan

Slumber Party by Christopher Pike

I love reading a book I read in high school over again. I especially love reading Christopher Pike and what's really cool is that it seems this book (unlike the Final Friends series) has stood the test of time.

I remembered Slumber Party as soon as I started reading it. I remembered the hot older boy skiers, the jealous friend, the melted clues, the culprit and this rather steamy, for an 11 year-old (I'll talk about it more during one of my 30 day challenges coming up) kiss. I did not remember the reason that it all began, however, which I found very odd.

What I liked and still like about this story is that the main character girl isn't wimpy, even if she is a little boy crazy. I like that her peers also think so as it is her bravery, level-headedness and, well, genuine kindness that prevail in the end.

What I recognized as a grown-up:

1] I'm not really sure I'd let my kid go for a weekend alone with other kids to a cabin a mile away, by foot, from a ski lodge.

2] I'm not sure I'd let/condone my kid dating a older (23 to her 17) guy from a different country whose prospects seem to be slim and whose main goal seems to be to flit around the USA.

3] Grown-ups don't seem to exist in Christopher Pike books...there's a sheriff, some old guy who parks their cars, and the parents...at the end...they're near a ski lodge...where are the grown-ups?

4] I think this book may be the reason why I didn't drink when others were and why I wasn't really around those that did during my younger years. It can be pretty scary and obviously horrible accidents can happen.

5] Does Christopher Pike only write 'crazy female'? If there's a 'crazy male' Christopher Pike book could someone send it my way?

And, finally, I don't understand why this is marked as horror by some on Goodreads. Maybe it's because this book is a nice little creepy send-off to books like Carrie, which I've seen, but haven't read and whose movie version is mentioned by the characters. I think that Horror novels have an elevated amount of violence that stops me from reading them and that this book does not possess. If this is horror than a]I've read horror and b] Mary Higgins Clark books like A Cry in the Night and While My Pretty One Sleeps are also. I do remember being creeped out by this book loads and, well, I still am.

5 Stars

Sigh, sweet nostalgia.


Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

There's a steamy kiss with some butt grabbing and the girl ponders what it would be like to have sex, for the first time ever, with a boy she just met. And, this kiss was/is steamy enough that I remembered it 25 years after reading the book for the first time.

Language 1/5

Low, almost non existent...

Substance Abuses 2/5

The whole accident occurs around under-age drinking. There's alcohol at the cabin.

Violence 4/5

So, yeah, a little girl's face gets melted off and then there's a big house explosion that kills a teenage girl.


Touchy Subjects

Slumber Parties
These should always happen with parent permission and adult supervision...so, I guess that makes me pretty lame. Gah, I hate feeling lame, but thems the breaks.

Secrets
All the girls have a terrible secret they are hiding...if Lara had told Celeste in the beginning, maybe, just maybe...
Accidents while under the influence
There's a horrible accident that happens when the girls, then middle graders, get into an adult liquor cabinet. I'm not sure that kids understand that accidents while drinking don't just include driving.
Make-out sessions
Especially with older men where you must lie to convince him to kiss you are not cool, and, well, lying isn't cool either!



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Cycles by Lois Brown

The author of Cycles, Lois Brown, sent Teen Text Talk, her book to review. There was a contest for however many reviews she received by a certain date. There was no way that I was going to get this book read in such a short amount of time, so I didn't bother with the contest, but told her that when I got to the book I'd give it an honest review. A month later, on my birthday no less, I read it in one sitting...seriously, it's that entertaining.

Renee Beaumont is a typical 13 year-old girl, she loves horses, her best friend who is an older boy science genius, Sam, and her neighbor, Dr. Dawson, a man who let's her come over whenever she wants and who takes care of her when her rich overly busy parents aren't around, which is a lot. One day Renee gallops away trying to save the doctor's prized horse from thieves, the horse trips and down goes Renee on a rock. At the hospital they can't figure out what is wrong, she's losing loads of blood, but they can't find out her blood-type. In walks her neighbor to save the day, he has some of her blood saved from a time he helped her with a science fair project...the only thing is this is all a lie and things only get weirder for Renee and her Sam as they try to find out the truth.

At first, this book seemed a bit confusing, it intersperses Renee stories with that of an older woman who is telling the story of her daughter's disappearance through diary entries. I spent the first 40 or so pages trying to figure out what exactly was going on, which I think will compel curious readers forward. And, although I know a bit about science and love science fiction, I did not see where this book was going. I'm guessing it's because this book begins so easily and subtly. The ending, WOW, so looking forward to the 2nd book!

Frankly, I need someone else to read this book so I can talk about it with them. I've never read a book like this before.


4 Stars   

While this book is fast-paced, I could definitely tell it was for younger YA readers as some of the descriptions, explanations and events truly drive the story not the characters, although Sam, Renee and the other characters fun to read about.

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 1/5

I think one time Sam may hold Renee's hand for comfort. A girl kisses Sam and Renee secretly spies it, Sam doesn't tell her, she has to confront him.

Language 0/5

No cussing.

Substance Abuses 2/5

Gamma, an Ohlone Indian writer and neighbor to the kids, uses all sorts of medicines and refers to drinking rattlesnake juice.

Violence 5/5

The only entire climax is pretty violent and I'll be giving it away now. Every 14 years Renee reverts back to a baby, it has to do with the Saros Cycle...she reverts back and it's plenty bloody and all sorts of gross and that's why one mother is accused of murder. There's a fight with two people who want the horse, Mercury, and one of them is shot and killed. Dr. Dawson disappears trying to make sure that the cycle is broken and Renee can live a normal life.


Touchy Subjects

Science and Religion
The more a SF book uses either one of these to give its plot a foundation the more that scientist and religious people seem to have a problem with it. Throw in a 'mystic' healer like Gamma, who uses herbs and words to help, and you've got so much for both communities to argue about and take offense to.

Secrets
All the grown-ups know what Renee is and what powers she possesses. I don't think they were ever going to tell her had Sam not been eavesdropping. They were looking for a cure without consulting her. And, then there's that whole "I didn't murder my daughter" thing from the past.
Relationships
While Sam likes Renee he does kiss another girl...what's up with that?!

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option
2] Definitely buying a hardcover for my classroom!

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

The following review has been pieced together from a conversation about Insurgent on Goodreads. I figured that since all the words were mine, I could do with them what I would.


**spoilers**


I'm having hard time putting a finger on why Tris and this book aren't as good (although they are good) as the first book.


I think it's hard to write a trilogy going into to it knowing that you are going to write a trilogy. You know there are things that you aren't going to reveal until the end and you know that these things have to be alluded to in some faction for your audience to buy it. You're main characters (in this case I'm including only Tris and Dour) have to also change in some fashion from book one to three. And, that change has to be warranted...this has got to be hard to do especially if you are writing in first person.


I don't really want to like Tris...I understood her behaviors incredibly well in the first book and her pouty petulance, defiance and all out rudeness made sense in the context of her life, her relationships and her factions. I bought it all. In this book Tris changes and I'm not sure that we can use her age as a defense , however, since 16 year olds make life changing decisions all of the time and while sophomores are different than seniors, they can still reason and think and listen and are on the path to adulthood. 


I do not like when a positive role-model (especially one for girls, as there are so few) seems to change her stripes and becomes, in fact, like all the other girls in all the other books that have girls as heroes. Can girls only be heroes if they cry/have ill-tempers/make stupid decisions? It would seem that the literary world seems to thinks so. I would even add Hermione Granger into this mix as she couldn't just be defiant she had to be, at times, downright mean and a 5-letter word...you know which one. I hear that Evie in Paranormalcychanges for the not so good, Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen inTwilight and The Hunger Games, respectively are not girls I see as having virtues and they only gain virtues by finding or loving boys--argh; even girl leads as far back as The Chronicles of Narnia are not girls I want my daughter to emulate in any fashion. Frankly, as I go through these types of books in my mind Forgive My Fins and other mermaid books, The Girl in the Steel Corset (don't even get me started on Wither) et cetera...the girls all seem to exhibit the same traits of whininess, weakness and neediness that are suppose to make them strong.


I don't know what I want to see in a heroine, a YA heroine in particular, I thought that Tris was getting there. I am afraid that she took a few steps backward in this book, which brings me to the point about trilogies...perhaps Tris just needs some room to grow, perhaps as a Divergent she needs to act and think and truly be selfless, maybe book two was all about acting as she learned the hard way that acting without thinking or truly being selfless does not work.  All I could think about while Tris was being so reckless and going into danger when everyone was telling her not to was Bella Swan and her recklessness...the fact that I could connect them (even if for a little bit, as i know the characters are truly different) irritates me.


I am still undecided about Tris. I don't think anyone would question her goals or motivations, although they do seem to contradict in terms of being selfish and selfless (or are they just both at the same time?). She doesn't make me want to punch her in the face, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be her friend. She just isn't what she was in book one. I don't like her at all in this book, even if she does question shooting Will and other of her actions that have not yielded positive results, I liked her loads in the first book when her actions and motivations seemed a little clearer. I'll see about the third.


4 Stars   

The thing is, I did enjoy this book loads. It was easy, fast and fun and it has me thinking, all good signs, especially from so young a writer.  Maybe Veronica Roth is being consistent with her characters and plots and we don't know it because there's a whole book to go. I'm willing to give Tris the opportunity to become the YA heroine I've been dreaming of. 

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 3.5-4/5

There are some really steamy kisses ...hands under shirt, lying down type kisses

Language 1/5

If there's any at all it's few and far between and in the heat of the moment.

Substance Abuses 2/5

Only because there's the initiation process and a truth serum and simulation...not really sure all of this should count, but...some people may not like it.

Violence 5/5

Um, there are fight scenes, a war is beginning. Tris and Four have a verbal fight. Actually, a lot of people and Tris have verbal fights. People get knocked out and murdered. A boy is shot point-blank. A girl gets shot and bleeds to death. A leader of one of the factions is assassinated and her body is put on display.


Touchy Subjects

War is Hell
If Dystopic novels don't tell us this, than what are they good for, however when you lose your parents and your brother is a traitor and your friends are dying that point may be a little hard to handle.

Revenge
See what that looks like if you are smart or brave or honest or caring or selfless...it comes in every package.
Secrets
Tris has to live with the fact that she killed Will. She tells no one until she is forced to do so.
Being True to Yourself
Even if others doubt you, even if you doubt yourself.
Relationships
At some point Tris and Four seem to be no good for one another...it's good for kids to see that relationships need work and sometimes you have to fight to keep them and sometimes you have to let go.



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option
2] Book Club read