future's so bright, I got to wear shades (or perhaps blinders)
In a not-too-distant future, the schools have been taken over by corporations (we are not reaching here at all unfortunately) and students attend schools in abandoned shopping malls. Katey, aka Kid, aka kidzero, attends the Game. She does not relish playing the online programs that make up her curriculum. She does not participate widely in the usual social networking venues. She is unlikely ever to get "branded." Or so she thinks. And then one day, a dummy is pushed from the second story of the mall, its balloon head splattering with red paint. It seems as though it is an anti-corporate prank. "Choose your Suicide" proclaims a group known only as The Unidentified. Before long, Kid is squarely in the middle of it all: on one hand, she becomes branded (tied to a sponsor and becoming known) and at the same time drawn to The Unidentified. Can she walk this tightrope long enough to figure it all out? THE UNIDENTIFIED (Balzar and Bray, October 2010)
should give educators chills. Teens will find the proposition eerily attractive at first, I suspect. <257>
Lots of possibilities for different reading ladders here including:
FEED
LITTLE BROTHER
SO YESTERDAY
TEST (Sleator)
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LARRY
There are a couple of title escaping me here. I will come back and post when they pop into my tired brain.