A riveting futuristic story from an excellent writer, yet somehow I sense a similarity to Anna MacKenzie's Sea-Wreck Stranger and Bernard Beckett's Genesis and perhaps an old classic Lois Lowry's The Giver. Nonetheless it is a brilliant story that completely enthralled me.
Juno is an eleven year old girl growing up in a society that has been sealed off from the outside world, or has it? Within this bubble has developed a society of 500 souls who are led or rather manipulated by a committee called Governance Companions, and a sinister lot they are too. The population is fixed at 500 so unless someone dies or chooses to die no babies can be born into this community.
Every Friday all citizens of this community have their heads shaved and Juno dislikes this intensely and can see no rhyme nor reason why this needs to happen. A girl needs her hair when all said and done. When Juno and her friend Vima protest against the head shaving, cracks appear in this apparently idyllic society that reveal secrets and cause actions that no-one is ready for.
A great read for Intermediate and Secondary school readers
Reviewed by Bob
Publish by Random House
0 comments:
Post a Comment