Fiction Friday

Time for Fiction Friday with Amanda from The Teaching Thief. Amanda, are the you the smartest thing or what for making this linky? It's been crazy fun!

This week I read three books. The first book has been on my list to read since undergrad. Now I understand what all the big business is about with this story.

You know this book would be perfect for? Teens and pre-teens whose emotions are almost too sharp to deal with. I can remember thinking that life would almost be easier if people didn't feel anything at all. 

The Giver is about a future society in which everyone is the same. They have been assimilated. There is no choice (choice causes anxiety), no surprises (surprises cause emotions), and no stimulation. They don't see in color, everyone dresses the same, and everyone's lives are identical except for the career they are assigned. 

12 year old Jonas is just like everyone else his age. He is nervous about the assignment he will be given for his career. When he is chosen to be the holder of memories a whole new world of emotions and sensations is opened for him. The Receiver of Memories is a lonely job; he is the only one who knows anything of feelings.

This is a MUST READ.

The second book I read was 

Rules is the perfect example of how complex emotions are during growing-up. Catherine just wants to have a normal life, but her autistic brother David makes that impossible. Catherine is torn between her protective love and her embarrassment of him. Things are made more complicated when she discovers a real friendship with  Jason, a boy without the ability to speak.

Catherine tries to categorize her life with David by making a list of Rules for him. But the rules can't solve everything.

Finally, I read

If you liked The Giver and Gregor the Overlander, you'll like The City of Ember. With no awareness of why, the residents of Ember live in a darkness that is only broken by electric lights that shine for prescribed hours of each day. When the lights begin to fail and food and supplies start to run out there is panic and fear. 

12 year old Lina and Doon are just beginning their assigned careers when they stumble upon a puzzling and imcomplete set of instructions and a shocking secret. Can they find the answers in time?