Review of Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

Rating = 3
Young Adult 

There has been an upsurge in crime and suicide in the country recently, although it is difficult to detect since most citizens are tied to their cell phones 24/7. Very few people interact face to face now; only by phone.  A young woman named Laura discovers that her parents don't even remember that she exists. A local fighter named Mal is urgently contacted by his brother, but the brother has now totally disappeared. A local high school teacher named Mike has noticed the problem, though.  The students in his school are more violent and troublesome than usual.  The lives of these three individuals eventually intersect and as a group, they must figure out what is going on to cause this amount of despair.

Karp has created a dystopia where no one interacts with each other; where buildings stand empty and there are even buildings that people can't see. The premise of the book is very interesting; an extension of the fear we feel now about becoming too dependent upon our technology.  I found parts of the story a little disjointed with too many acronyms and the assumption that the reader knows and understands the world he has created.  Teens will probably be drawn to the story ; it may provide a window into their future.

2011 Debut Author Challenge

As a former young adult librarian, I LOVE to read young adult books. So, I have decided to participate in the 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren.  Here are some of the rules for this challenge:

•Books must be a Young Adult or Middle Grade novel.

•NOTE: Just because a book has a teen character or is about a teen, does not mean that it is necessarily a Young Adult novel.

•This must be the authors debut with a release date in 2011.

•If an author has a previous novel published under adult fiction/nonfiction or children's fiction/nonfiction, they can still qualify for the challenge if they are releasing their YA or MG debut.

Visit The Story Siren's blog to see the list of eligible books and to sign up for the challenge.