Fiction Friday: Matched, by Ally Condie

In the Society, everything is perfect.  Or so it seems.  The Society chooses what you wear, what you eat, where you go and when, and most importantly, your Match.  This is the person you are chosen to live the rest of your life with.  The Society decides how many children you will have.  Sometime in your 17th year, you will attend your Match Banquet.  You stand up and your Match's face appears on the screen.

But, in Cassia's case, the screen remains black, and she immediately knows what this means.  Her Match is somewhere in the room, and it is highly likely she already knows him well.  They call out Xander's name.  She and Xander have been best friends for as long as they can remember.  They already know every detail about each other.  The chip provided to everyone else with necessary information about their Match is unnecessary in their case. 

Still, curiosity gets the better of Cassia, and when she gets home, she plugs it into her port.  The face smiling back at her is the handsome and well-known face of her best friend.  Then the screen goes blank.  When it comes back on, a different face appears, and it is yet another guy from her province, Ky Markham.  The chance that her Match is from her own province is almost impossible, and for her to have two Matches, both people she knows, is impossible. 

Everything Cassia thought she ever knew is unraveling.  Her grandfather gives her an illegal poem, and after that, she seems to be in the middle of everything against all the rules.  The scariest thing is that she finds herself falling in love with the wrong person.  The only question is:  What will Cassia do?
                                                         Reviewed by Morgan F, 8th grade

How Do You Like Your Fiction?

If you've been to a local bookstore lately looking for teen fiction, you might have noticed how the most popular genres are now spotlighted.  At Barnes & Noble, fantasy and paranormal romance have broken out of the pack and are highlighted separately.   Fans of these books will be happy campers - they will be able to locate the newest and hottest titles immediately.   Others might not be sure where to look for their favorites.

This system is provoking  a growing controversy in the world of secondary school libraries.  Some schools are taking the major step of breaking up their fiction collections by genre.  As I see it, the benefits of this are that teens will be able to go straight to the genre of choice, not even having to scan the shelves where other categories are listed.

On the other hand, the chance of a serendipitous discovery is considerably lessened.  That wonderful ah-hah moment where you stumble upon something you might not otherwise have seen.  You would seldom notice an intriguing new historical romance if you only zeroed-in on the paranormal romance section. 

There could also be some confusion over how to categorize a book.  Would you put Gone, by Michael Grant,  under fantasy or maybe in the paranormal section?   Under post-apocalyptic fiction? 

What do you think?   I would love for Clint Small students to weigh in on this issue.