The Chosen One

Starred review from May 25, 2009
Williams strikes just the right balance between informative and cautionary in this gripping tale about a 13-year-old girl trapped in a polygamist cult. At first, Kyra's struggles center around her situation—a lack of privacy, too many mothers and the urge to experiment with various sins (reading books besides scripture, exploring outside the compound, kissing a boy). But when she's “chosen” to be the seventh wife of her brutish, 60-something uncle, Kyra's desperation to be somewhere (or someone) else escalates (“God has given you to me, Kyra Leigh,” her uncle tells her. “You will
do what He says. What the Prophet says. What I
say”). Is she brave enough to run away from the community that has sheltered her since birth? Although the ending verges on the sensational, Williams (Pretty Like Us
) takes such care in crafting Kyra's internal struggles—and her hellacious story—that the ensuing drama rings true. Williams's highlighting all aspects of cult membership (fear of leaving, desire to belong, guilt about sinning), rather than relying on one-sided generalizations (cults are bad), makes this a prudent and powerful read. Ages 12–up.

July 1, 2009
Gr 7 Up-In this thriller, 13-year-old Kyra lives in an isolated polygamist cult. Life in the compound is as dry as the surrounding desert, more confining than the chain-link fence on its perimeter. But Kyra finds small freedoms despite the tightly controlled communal environment and is able to slip outside to wander the desert. There she chances upon a friendly book-mobile driver who opens the world of childrens literature to her. Kyra even begins a flirtation with her classmate, Joshua, a dangerous sin for which they will both pay dearly. The brutal leader, Prophet Childs, has plans for Kyra and will brook no disobedience. He assigns her to be the seventh wife of her own 60-year-old uncle. Repelled, she resists. She and Joshua are badly beaten and she is told that other young people have been killed for taking a similarly defiant stand. Kyras loving father is powerless to help her and counsels her to accept her fate, but she cannot. The story ends in a high-speed chase with the Prophets goons gunning for her as she improbably races toward freedom in the blood-spattered book mobile. Has the friendly driver been killed on her account? Is anyone looking for him? What retribution will be taken on her family and what kind of a life lies ahead for her? These unsettling questions are not addressed, but these omissions do not diminish the relief of her successful escape. For a more layered examination of the internal as well as external struggles of a young teen coming of age in a polygamist community, see Shelley Hrdlitschkas "Sister Wife" (Orca, 2008)."Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2009
Grades 7-10 Taking a story ripped from the headlines, Williams looks inside a polygamist cult and the dangers it poses for one girl. Kyra and her father, three mothers, and 20 siblings live in an isolated community under the thumb of a prophet, who controls every aspect of his apostles lives. The most shocking intrusion of all comeswhen the prophetdecrees thatKyra is to become the wife ofher 60-year-old uncle. A secret patron of a local mobile library, Kyra knows theres a world away from the compound she might escape to, but first she pins her hopes on her fathers ability to change the prophets mind. Instead, her family is threatened, and the stakes for her refusal to marry are raised. The clandestine relationship Kyra is having with one of the compounds teenage boys is a romance more convenient than convincing (everyone is carefully watched except this duo, it seems). Contrivances notwithstanding, this is a heart pounder, andreaders will be held, especially as the danger escalates. Williams portrayals of the familyare sharp, butwhats most interesting about this book is how the yearnings and fears of a character so far from what mostYAs know will still seem familiar and close.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)