501 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (2011)
ISBN: 0062024027
Level/Lexile: 8th-12th grade/700L
Genre: Dystopian, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Annotation/Teaser: In a Dystopian world where you must choose where you will spend the rest of your life at the age of 16, Beatrice Prior must choose to stay with her family and the only people she has ever known or be who she really wants to be. Her choice surprises everyone, even her.
Plot Summary: Beatrice Prior is a sixteen year old living in futuristic, Dystopian Chicago, that is split into 5 factions. Each faction reflects a different characteristic that its people possess. These five factions are Amity (kindness), Erudite (intelligence), Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), and Dauntless (bravery). There comes a time when each member of the city must take an aptitude test to determine which faction they are best suited for and then they are asked to choose one of the factions where they will live. Beatrice's aptitude results are inconclusive because she shows strong characteristics of three of the factions. This makes her Divergent and she is not to share this information because when a Divergent is found he or she is usually killed. Beatrice is surprised at the ceremony when her brother chooses Erudite instead of Abnegation, where her father and mother are members. At the last minute, Beatrice chooses Dauntless, much to her father's disappointment. Beatrice travels to the Dauntless compound where she renames herself Tris. When she arrives, she finds that only 10 of the initiates will be chosen to be a member of Dauntless. The others will be cast out as factionless or homeless. Tris meets her instructor, Four and they become close.
Meanwhile, there is unrest among the factions. This conflict is threatening to destroy the perfect city that Beatrice has already known. Will she find the secret that could save the people she loves?
About the Author: Veronica Roth Unlike most authors, Veronica Roth had a relatively quick journey to literary stardom, with her debut novel Divergent and landing her on the New York Times best sellers list at the tender age of 22. Roth attended Minnesota's Carleton College for one year before transferring to Northwestern and graduating from the university's prestigious writing program. Literary agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary recognized potential in Roth and signed her to a contract, securing a publishing deal with HarperCollins only four days after sending out the Divergent manuscript.
Told from the perspective of 16-year-old protagonist Beatrice Prior, Divergent chronicles a dystopian Chicago in which society groups citizens into five factions according to the person's beliefs, passions, and loyalties.
The highly anticipated second book Insurgent in the Divergent trilogy received high remarks and sparked a green light for the Divergent movie. Movie Rights for the Divergent movie belong to Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate. It is expected to come out in March 2014. Also the third book, Allegiant was released on October 22, 2013.
Critical Evaluation: Divergent is a Dystopian novel that follows Tris a young woman who is determined to find out who she is. One of the key elements in this book is foreshadowing. We first see this when Tris reveals that she may feel out of place in the Abnegation, the faction of selflessness. Even to think this thought is a transgression of Abnegation. Even so, Tris feels she doesn't fit in with her family. Tris says of her father, "I have never seen him think of himself, never heard him insist on anything but selflessness." This is where we see the beginning of her decision making process about which faction she will choose. Another example of foreshadowing is when Tris runs away from Dauntless to see her brother and he tells her "something big is happening". This is a hint that the revolution is to come.
Another element that Roth uses well in this book is imagery. She uses lots of imagery in describing the settings in this book but one description that really stands out for me is the description of the area where the factionless live. “Just past the Abnegation sector of the city is the stretch of building skeletons and broken sidewalks that I now walk through. There are places where the road has completely collapsed, revealing sewer systems and empty subways that I have to be careful to avoid, and places that stink so powerfully of sewage and trash that I have to plug my nose”
I found the ability to choose just one character trait for the rest of my life a bit odd because of the unrealistic nature of it. But I also started to think about what traits I would most exhibit. I think that I would be Divergent, just as Tris is. But I think that everybody in our real world would be. This is the best Dystopian fiction I have read and I read it in one day. I would highly recommend it to readers of all ages and I have.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Book Talk Ideas: What if you had to choose one place and one characteristic that you would exemplify for the rest of your life? That is just what Beatrice Prior is faced with.
Controversial Issues: Violence
Defense:
*I will keep
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understanding of the standards and
policies to show that the selection meets the standards.
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good and bad reviews (both electronic and print) and make sure they are from
reliable and respected sources such as School of Library Journal, Booklist, and
YALSA. I will have copies of these reviews to give away.
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the library's position to provide intellectual freedom as stated in the Library
Bill of Rights and keep a copy of this.
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a written rationale to justify the reasons this material is included in the
collection, such as educational significance and curriculum ties.
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respectful and calm and practice "active listening".
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sure I read the material and are very familiar with it.
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in the event that my other strategies don't work.
Why I Chose This Book? With the popularity of The Hunger Games, I felt this was an obvious choice for another dystopian novel.
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