Middle school students have reading interests that run the gamut from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Twilight. Sometimes as a parent it is hard to know what is age appropriate for your child. Through this blog, I will try to help parents make informed decisions about what is available in our library. I am hoping that this blog will be a resource for our parents, and that we can all work together to make our students life-long readers!



Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The Here and now

The Here and Now
by Ann Brashares
From the publisher:
"An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year."


I am definitely not a fan of this author's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, so I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't love this one. The premise was good, the time-traveling was interesting, the characters were pretty likeable and the writing was good.  I guess the biggest problem that I had with the book is that these 2 teenagers know that they are the last hope for the world and yet they spend most of the time talking about whether or not they should have sex. They know the exact date that they need to save the world and they waste the 2 days before that laying on the beach or sitting on swings. Seriously? They couldn't have done anything beforehand to try and change the outcome of what was approaching? And the ending was really disappointing. I will be taking a pass on the rest of the series.

Areas of concern:
I don't really remember much bad language. If there was any, it was just a handful, and no major words.
Teenagers constantly talking about sex.
A society where children can be taken away from their families or killed for breaking rules.


Suggested Ages:
Booklist - Grades 7+
Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

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