Marked: A House of Night Novel

Bibliographic Information: Cast, K. & Cast, P.C. (2008). Marked: A house of night novel. New York: Bolinda Audio.

Plot Summary: Sixteen-year old Zoe Redbird was no stranger to problems.  Her boyfriend was a drunken idiot, her best friend was annoying, and her family relationships were strained because of her overly religious step-father.  One day at school, she is met by a Tracker at her locker, and marked with a crescent moon on her forehead to become a fledgling vampyre.  Zoe must choose to move into the House of Night, the vampyre finishing school, or die.  Upon her arrival, after passing out on her way to her grandmother’s house, Zoe meets her mentor, Nepheret, who is also the headmaster.  It is then that Zoe learns the crescent moon on her forehead is filled in; something unusual for a fledgling.  Aphrodite, the leader of the school’s elite group, The Dark Daughters, shows Zoe to her room where she meets Stevie Rae.  As a ploy to make a fool of Zoe, Aphrodite invites her to join the Dark Daughters, and during her first ritual Zoe discovers her lust for human blood.  It doesn’t take long for Zoe to realize that Aphrodite is abusing her powers as high priestess-in-training, so she makes a plan to use her newly discovered affinity for the five elements to dethrone her. 

Critical Evaluation: As the first installment of The House of Night series, Marked introduces Zoe, a hesitant heroine, who appears to be instrumental in the future of The House of Night.  The conflicts Zoe experiences parallel other fictional heroes.  First, Zoe’s family life is in shambles.  Her mother married a overly religious man whom she refers to as the step-loser, and her siblings are never around.  Her unhappy family life makes her decision to join the vampyres at the House of Night less difficult, much like the unhappy family life Harry Potter ditched when he joined witches and wizards-to-be at Hogwarts.  It didn’t take long for Zoe to meet her antagonist, Aphrodite, who is the female version of Harry’s antagonist, Draco Malfoy.  The biggest similarity between Harry and Zoe are their unique marks on their foreheads, which mark them as different.  Zoe’s filled-in crescent moon on her forehead is unusual for a fledgling sparks curiosity among her peers.  At first Zoe was hesitant to believe her filled-in moon means anything, but after an undeniable experience during a ceremony in Nyx’s temple (the vampyre Goddess), she starts to understand the power she has.  Zoe’s journey will undoubtedly be long and difficult, but Marked gives us a glimpse into what that journey will look like.

Reader’s Annotation: Making the change from human to vampyre can be dangerous, especially when coupled with abnormal powers.  Zoe Redbird, a brand new vamp-in-training already lusts for blood and can summon the elements, but someone is unimpressed; someone who can make things really bad for Zoe.

Information about the author: P.C. and Kristin Cast are a mother/daughter team who write the House of Night series, which has experienced outstanding success in the wake of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.  After high school, P.C. Cast joined the Air Force and after her tour she taught high school for fifteen years.  She retired from teaching to begin writing and has earned numerous awards and is a New York Times bestselling author (Cast, n.d.).

Kristin Cast, P.C,’s daughter, was fresh out of high school the year she began collaborating with her mother on the House of Night Series, which currently totals 10 novels (with two more to complete the series), three novellas, a prequel, and other companion books to complement the story.  While Kristin cast currently works on her first stand alone novel, she has also published several stories in anthologies (Wikipedia, n.d.).

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Curriculum Ties: English (literature; plot elements)

Booktalking ideas (one or two):

1.    From the perspective of Nyx.

2.    From the perspective of Aphrodite

Reading level/Interest age: 15+

Challenge Issues: This novel contains sexual references, crude language, and elements of withcraft.

To defend challenged material I would:

1. Read/watch/listen to the material to become familiar with the content.

2. Familiarize myself with the Arizona Common Core curriculum standards http://www.azed.gov/azcommoncore/teacher/ to defend how the material can support the learning of these standards.

3. Refer to the Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

4. Refer to the collection policy of my library.

5. Collect reviews from staff/students/patrons who have used the material

Why I included this audiobook: This audiobook gives Twilight fans an alternative story of the vampire world.  In 2009 the book won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Young Adult Novel Award (Amazon, n.d.).

References:

Amazon. (n.d.) Marked (house of night, book 1). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Marked-House-Night-Book-1/dp/product-description/0312360266/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Cast, P. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from http://www.pccast.net/biography.html
Wikipedia (n.d.). Kristin Cast. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Cast

            Cast, P. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from 

                        http://www.pccast.net/biography.html