Gated tells the story of Lyla Hamilton and her family and friends that compose the Community. Led by Pioneer, the Community is a group of people hand selected by The Brethren to be the only humans left on Earth during the end of days. (If this sounds a little bothersome to you, it should. It should raise red flags all over the place.) The Community is wary of Outsiders and when Lyla meets a handsome Outsider named Cody, she begins to question all that she's been raised to believe. (Hooray Lyla--please...question away!)
For me, Gated was a total page turner and I loved the story, even though I was completely baffled by the Community and their belief system and was fearful for Pioneer' followers every step of the way. I even forgot at times that this was a book written for teenagers. Astray, however, was not as compelling for me and while I was glad in the end that I read it and was able to achieve closure on the story, it did not have me turning pages like Gated did. I do think, however, that it's necessary to read both novels in order to get the complete story.
While these books are written for young adults, I think that it would be hard to actually discuss a lot of the plot and themes of the books with teenagers. I can't say that I'd ever recommend these books to be read at school, either. Perhaps if they are in the library and a child checked them out independently, maybe, but never as a novel study. Never. I think as a teacher you'd be playing with fire if you read these books in class. I don't usually advocate censorship in the classroom, but I feel compelled to do so this time.
Happy reading!
-Dodie
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