The Unwanteds

by Lisa McMann | 400 pgs, published 2011

I was so excited to read this book. As a general rule, I don’t care for twins as main characters, because it seems like such an easy plot device. But here it sounded fascinating: in a society where you are classified as Wanted or Unwanted at age 13, twin brothers are split up. Alex is Unwanted and he knows this means he will be sent to a death farm. And die.

I’m sorry for all the spoilers that are about to follow…

When Alex and the other Unwanted 13-year-olds get to the death farm, it turns out to be an illusion. It’s magically a place called [insert fantasy place name here], a school/haven for the creatively-minded Unwanteds. You see, what makes a person Unwanted is failure to follow the society’s rules, like no drawing, singing, dancing, acting, and so on. In the X-Men school of [fantasy place name], the kids learn how to let their creativity develop, and then how to use it as a weapon so they can defend themselves against the Wanteds if necessary. (Remember that the Wanteds think the Unwanteds have all been shipped off to die in a pit of boiling tar or something.)

Also, there was a weird romance in there. Awkward teenage crushes. Really awkward.

So the book ended up seeming like a PSA for creativity. Let your child be themselves! Don’t force them to think like everyone else!

I’m all for creativity, and I hope my kids can think in a variety of ways, including the ways that will be most useful to society. And hopefully earn money and stuff because let’s face it, unless you produce every item you need to consume, you’ll need money.

…Ahem. I got sidetracked there. Not a huge fan of this book, that’s what I was trying to get at.

Buy The Unwanteds on Amazon

Willpower

by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney | 304 pgs, published 2011

Non-fiction! Shocking!

Baumeister and Tierney are researchers, and they’ve done countless studies of their own; the book also draws on studies done by other researchers to give convincing evidence in favor of their conclusions. Of course, that could just mean the authors are skilled writers.

The point of the book is that it takes energy to exercise willpower; you need to eat the right kinds of foods to give your brain the necessary fuel; willpower can be strengthened by frequent use. Most importantly, developing small habits (like shaving every morning or having good posture) strengthens your willpower, and it will be easier to have self-control in other areas of your life.

Basically, think of willpower like a muscle. Be strong!

Buy Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength on Amazon

Enclave

by Ann Aguirre | 262 pgs, published 2011

I know, I say this all the time, but it’s worth repeating for quite a few of the books you’ll see reviews for in the next bit: I don’t keep track of where I got a book recommendation from, or what genre the book is, and I definitely don’t read reviews beforehand.

So I didn’t know that this was a zombie book.

Wait, wait! Now that we’ve got that out in the open, let me say, it’s a fascinating, well-written YA dystopian book. Very worth your time. Just…zombies, ok? Hear me out.

There’s been a massive plague, society has disintegrated, so far this is typical dystopian stuff. Life expectancy is barely two decades. The main character, Deuce, lives in an enclave of survivors in the underground tunnels of New York. Totally not weird: there are tunnel monsters, or Freaks. Yes, those are zombies. But the way the enclave has structured its little society is fascinating, the story is fast-paced, the characters are interesting.

Some post-apocalyptic zombie books where they never say “zombies” are no good. This one, great. Trust me!