Dread nation Author: Ireland, Justina | ||
Price: $9.83 |
Summary:
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities-and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the wealthy.
Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 6.00 Points: 17.0 Quiz: 197249 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 9-12 Reading Level: 5.60 Points: 24.0 Quiz: 73233 | |
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 02/01/2018 Gr 9 Up—Slavery comes to a halt when the dead on Civil War battlefields begin to rise and eat their compatriots. The north and south put aside their philosophical differences and join forces against the undead. They are aided in their efforts by the passage of the Native and Negro Reeducation Act which forces African American boys and girls into combat schools. Graduates from these schools are a buffer between the living and the undead. Jane McKeen is a biracial girl sent to Ms. Preston's school of combat to obtain an attendant certificate. Jane is about to graduate when her friend, Red Jack, asks for help locating his sister Lily. Jane's attempts to discover Lily's whereabouts land her in a survivalist colony. Survivalists advocate a disordered view of natural selection that places Jane firmly under the thumb of a vicious sheriff and his psychopathic family. Jane is tasked with finding a way out of Summerland not only for herself, but also for those she loves. She must make some unlikely alliances of her own if she is to survive long enough to find her own path to freedom. This is a fictional exploration of the chattel slavery and American Indian boarding school systems. Ireland skillfully works in the different forms of enslavement, mental and physical, into a complex and engaging story. VERDICT A perfect blend of horrors real and imagined, perfect for public and school libraries and fans of The Walking Dead.—Desiree Thomas, Worthington Library, OH - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.