February – Veronica Roth – Divergent

Is Divergent the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter?  It would seem so with a soon to be released movie and a waiting list for the series in my school library and local library.  Is it worthy?  Certainly, as a first of a series (there are three) it is far less tedious than The Hunger Games or Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in terms of getting to the action and the point of the novel: the implications of the main character, Beatrice, being “divergent” and what it means for the highly structured society. This to me is a plus in a time where it seems the majority of students are not tackling lengthy books with complicated plots/subplots (effect of the internet age? /not enough reading time in busy lives?) even compared to a few years ago.  Year 8-10 would certainly enjoy it.  Check out the trailer for the movie.