Divergent

Bibliographic Information: Roth, V. (2011). Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen.

 

Plot Summary: In the dystopian world of Chicago, Beatrice Prior’s community is broken into five factions: Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Abnegation (the selfless).  As she inches closer to her sixteenth birthday, Beatrice takes an aptitude test that is supposed to help her decide which faction she will align with for the rest of her life.  Her results are surprising, and unnerving.  She doesn’t show aptitude for one faction, but three, a condition labeled as Divergent, a label she is warned to not share with anyone.  On Choosing Day, Beatrice decides (with hesitation) to leave her home faction, Abnegation, and join the Dauntless.  Before she is officially accepted into the Dauntless faction, she and the other transfers must endure a merciless initiation, a task not cut out for former Abnegations.  Beatrice is at first considered a weakling, but quickly shows that she is much more dauntless than they think she is.  Much, much more.

Critical Evaluation:  Divergent no doubt contains all the elements of a dystopian novel.  The characters suffer from oppression, though their oppression manifests itself through rigid rules.  For the first sixteen years of their lives, citizens are forced to abide by their faction lifestyle whether or not it comes naturally to them, as in Beatrice’s case.  Many times she struggled internally to conform to the lifestyle of Abnegation, and heed her true personality.  Unlike many dystopians, citizens are given a choice to leave their home faction and choose something else, but even that choice is heavy with consequences.  There are plenty of ruthless leaders in Divegent, like Eric, the leader of Dauntless, who are cruel, and puts the transfer initiates through hell.  Underlying all of this is the alliance between Eric and the Jeanine Matthews, the Erudite leader, aimed at bringing down Abnegation.  Beatrice, the protagonist, takes on the responsibility to save her home faction, and, with her unique label of Divergent, will most likely play the biggest role in protecting the weak from the power hungry in the subsequent sequels. 

Reader’s Annotation: Beatrice only has seven fears and three tattoos.  She left a life of selflessness to join a life marked by bravery, but will she still be brave when she discovers a plot to destroy her family?

Information about the author: Veronica Roth, a young, 24-year old woman, wrote Divergent while attending Northwestern University where she received a degree in creative writing (Wikipedia, n.d.).  She has maintained a blog since July of 2009, where she talks about writing, book news, movie updates, and random muses.

Roth’s Divergent series has seen much success, selling over two million copies and landing on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Genre: Dystopian

Curriculum Ties: English (literature)

Booktalking ideas (one or two):

1.    Review the five factions, explain what they are, and have audience choose which faction they belong in.  Share.

2.    Four's description of Tris.

Reading level/Interest age: 14+

Challenge Issues: This novel includes violence, and some inappropriate touching.

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 chose this book: Divergent is a great addition to this collection because of its action-filled plot.  It is in the same genre as The Hunger Games, so fans of Katniss Everdeen who want to read more dystopian storylines will be excited to pick up this novel.  

References:

Wikipedia (n.d.) Veronica Roth. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Roth