Bibliographic Information: Oliver, L. (2011). Delirium. New York: Harper.
Plot Summary: A
young girl, Lena, lives in a futuristic society where love is
considered a sickness that needs to be cured at the age of eighteen. Up until
their eighteenth
birthday they are separated continually from the opposite sex, and any
romantic relationship is illegal and considered to be an infection.
Once they are of age, they are evaluated and paired with someone,
assigned jobs, number of children, and their future together is perfectly
planned. Lena has always looked forward to getting “the cure”,
especially since her parents were both infected, looked down upon in
society, and dead because of it. She is almost 1eighteen and will be safe
soon, but when she meets Alex, a nineteen-year old boy who has already been
“cured” and considered safe to be around, she starts to question not
just the cure, but also the laws and world around her.
Critical Evaluation: Lauren
Oliver, author, does an amazing job describing the dramatic effects
of love, but with a negative twist. She uses realistic emotions,
actions, and feelings associated with love to create a very adverse take
on it. It seems very logical with her descriptions that love can be
very detrimental to society, making this story seem like a possibility
of the future. Throughout the book, Lena, is forced to choose between
her feelings of love and what she has been taught her whole life. The
detail in which Oliver describes Lena’s feelings are powerful and
inspiring and connects with the reader’s own emotions with great
intensity. By the end of the book you want to yell at Lena to follow
her heart and tell her love is real and good. The overlying theme of
the greatness and necessity of love in our lives is what empowers the
story.
Reader’s Annotation: What if you lived in a word where love was considered a disease?
A world without love is a world without problems, right?
Information about the author: As
the daughters of two literary professors, Lauren Oliver and her sister
were encouraged to live imaginative lives. Her writing served as an
extension of her love of reading, and she wrote several sequels to books
she loved, something that is now considered fan fiction (Oliver, n.d.).
She studied literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and
the received an MFA in creative writing. She worked at Razorbill, a
young adult branch of Penguin Books, where she began writing Before I Fall. In 2009 she left her job to pursue writing full time. Her other works include the Delirium series, and three novellas from the Delirium world (Wikipedia, 2013).
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance
Curriculum Ties: English (literature)
Booktalking ideas (one or two):
1. Lena’s parents’ perspective (they were “infected” with love)
2. Description of life when a person turns 18 (their life is decided for them)
Reading level/Interest age: 14+
Challenge Issues:
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: This novel's premise of love as a disease is interesting. Almost every person has felt love before, so they are more likely to react to the concept that characters need to be cured of it.
References:Why I chose this book: This novel's premise of love as a disease is interesting. Almost every person has felt love before, so they are more likely to react to the concept that characters need to be cured of it.
Oliver, L. (n.d.). Author. Retrieved from http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/author.php
Wikipedia. (2013, May 11). Lauren Oliver. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Oliver
