The Ballad of Ami Miles

May 1, 2020

Gr 8 Up-In this debut novel, a post-apocalyptic society is on the brink of extinction because women in their childbearing years are largely unable to reproduce. Isolated from her peers, Ami Miles grows up in a religious, patriarchal family complex, Heavenly Shepherd. When a stranger appears at the compound, it becomes painfully clear that she is expected to carry on the family line and respectfully follow her grandparents' wishes. With the help of other relatives, she runs away to find her mother who fled the compound shortly after Ami's birth. After hiking several days, she arrives at Lake Point and is exposed to a range of new experiences: discovering the limitations of her upbringing, meeting other teenagers and people of other races, finding her mother, and falling for a girl named Jessie. While the focus on Ami's internal thoughts limits dialogue and gives the story a slower pace, Alley takes on a number of complex topics, including individual freedom, women's rights, sexual identity, and racism. Ami, newly empowered by all she has learned, returns to Heavenly Shepherd to offer a different vision of life to her relatives. VERDICT The plot takes on many topics while leaving readers with unanswered questions about the fate of the complex and her grandparents. Yet this intriguing take on themes reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale could be an additional purchase for collections seeking more dystopian titles.-Monica Cabarcas, Albemarle High School, Charlottesville, VA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2020
Grades 9-12 Ami Miles has grown up the only child in Heavenly Shepherd, a trailer dealership that her great-great-grandfather turned into a strict religious compound at a time when the birthrate had plummeted due to a virus. One day, she returns from a foraging trip to find a strange man waiting there, planning to marry her. Her aunts and uncles help her run away to Lake Point Resort, where she might find her mother, who left when she was a baby. At the resort, Ami finds her mother, who now has a new family. The first-person narrative gives the reader vivid images of a world struggling to start over, and weighs the risks of individuality against the benefits of a secure community. Some readers may find Ami's discovery that she is a lesbian, which she reconciles in a week, and a number of other issues that the author packs in somewhat unconvincing, but the page-turning pace and suspenseful plot override most concerns. This is optimistic post-apocalyptic fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)