Kearsten's Book Club Wrap-Up: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

This past Monday night, we rowdy book clubbers discussed the creepy and awesome apocalyptic thriller, Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne.

Trapped inside a chain superstore by an apocalyptic sequence of natural and human disasters, six high school kids from various popular and unpopular social groups struggle for survival while protecting a group of younger children.

WE LOVED IT.  

The discussion was, as usual, all over the place.  We spent a lot of time on the disasters - deadly hail, bus crashes, earthquakes, and toxic smoke - and how we might (or, in Kearsten's case, might not) have survived.  We also talked about the unsettling interactions with adults in the story, and how the teens handled themselves and the younger children. 

Kearsten's favorite part of the meeting was when we examined the ways in which the teen characters reacted to their situations.  Some distanced themselves, whether on purpose by hiding from the others or unintentionally by going into shock, while others tried to ignore the situation by drinking or using drugs.  Most of us were pretty disgusted by the characters who used drugs and alcohol, primarily because it meant they were leaving the younger children without support when they needed it most.

The teens in book club are awesome.

Here's a pic of some of the questions submitted by book clubbers! 

Already read Monument 14?  Then try one of these teen-endorsed read-alikes, which also focus on themes of missing parents, disasters, and survival!

Gone by Michael Grant. In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

The Enemy by Charlie Higson. After a disease turns everyone over sixteen into brainless, decomposing, flesh-eating creatures, a group of teenagers leave their shelter and set out of a harrowing journey across London to the safe haven of Buckingham Palace.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz. Teens Shay, Marco, Lexi, and Ryan, quarantined in a shopping mall when a biological bomb goes off in an air duct, learn that in an emergency people change, and not always for the better, as many become sick and supplies run low.

Kearsten's Book Club: Gone by Michael Grant

It's that time again!  Book club met last night, Monday, October 27th, to discuss Michael Grant's creepy, disappearing adults story, Gone.

In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

We spent a lot of our time talking about characters, dissecting their reactions to their strange and scary situations and wondering which we might most be like - are we caretakers like Mother Mary?  Thinkers like Astrid, determined to try and figure out the science behind the happenings?  Or might we see an opportunity and seize it like Caine?

Most interesting was our discussion of responsibility: if others look to you as a leader, do you have an obligation to lead them?  Many of the characters in Gone look to Sam, our main point-of-view character, for guidance, due to past actions, but Sam doesn't feel at all prepared to take charge of over two hundred kids trying to survive with no adults.  Book group seemed pretty split, with half of us saying, "yes, if others look to you for leadership, clearly that means you have the skills needed," while the other half of us maintained that if someone in a leadership role doesn't feel like they have those skills, it's better for them to decline that leadership role, as a true leader needs to be confident.  What are your thoughts?

Overall, we enjoyed the book for it's plot and the fun we had in speculating about what exactly happens to those who disappear...



Already read Gone?  Why not try one of these similar reads, recommended by book club teens?

For kids trying to survive in a world without adults, try these:

The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson.  When a plague sweeps over the earth killing everyone except children under twelve, ten-year-old Lisa organizes a group to rebuild a new way of life.

Variant by Robison Wells.  After years in foster homes, seventeen-year-old Benson Fisher applies to New Mexico's Maxfield Academy in hopes of securing a brighter future, but instead he finds that the school is a prison and no one is what he or she seems.








If you're intrigued by the way civilization and compassion can breakdown in in scary situations, try one of these:

The Enemy by Charlie Higson.  After a disease turns everyone over sixteen into brainless, decomposing, flesh-eating creatures, a group of teenagers leave their shelter and set out of a harrowing journey across London to the safe haven of Buckingham Palace.

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe.  Sixteen-year-old old Kaelyn challenges her fears, finds a second chance at love, and fights to keep her family and friends safe as a deadly new virus devastates her island community.









If having to "play by the bully rules" (As Gone character Quinn puts it) intrigues you, try:

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  Following a world war, a group of school boys survives a plane crash on a deserted island and creates a hellish environment leading to savagery and murder. Two leaders--one civilized, one depraved--epitomize the forces that war eternally in the human spirit.

Nothing by Janne Teller.  When thirteen-year-old Pierre Anthon leaves school to sit in a plum tree and train for becoming part of nothing, his seventh grade classmates set out on a desperate quest for the meaning of life.

For other great reads with themes of dystopia, survival, and war, try one of these!

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.  Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden.  While Ellie and her friends are away in the bush, the world changes. Suddenly they are in the toughest situations humans can confront, facing life and death decisions. They are thrown into a world where they find courage, initiative, spirit and wisdom ... or they die.

Kearsten's Book Club: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Last night, we talked LOVE. And power. But mostly, love and whether or not we believed that it could be as destructive as the creepy government portrayed in Lauren Oliver's Delirium thinks it is.

This sci-fi teen novel brought up more questions than answers for us:

- Is it just love that's bad? What about hate? Or is that an extension of love...?
- What, exactly, IS this cure? Is this society full-on lobotomizing their "willing" populace?
- What happens to your interest in hobbies - like Lena's love of running - when you get cured?
- Do government officials/regulators/guards get cured? If so, why are they so very ragey?
- Why must Lena be so gosh-darned hard on herself?! You sound just lovely, my dear!

We enjoyed our discussion, as well as the fact that it led us to wonder about our own government - in what ways do they try to 'protect' us by removing freedoms - and think you should try Delirium yourself!

Already read it? Why not try some of these?

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (for older teens). Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen accidentally becomes a contender in the annual Hunger Games, a grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in a televised fight to the death.

1984 by George Orwell. In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Shock Point by April Henry. Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (for older teens). When She Woke, tells the story of a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed-their skin color is genetically altered to match the class of their crimes-and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder.