Chosen

March 15, 2008
The first in aYA extension of Dekkers best-selling Circle series for adults, marketed primarily toChristian audiences, this briskly pacedadventurestarts with a football game. The game will select four new leaders from among teens who have just joined the Forest Guard to fight against the Hordedisfigured beings created when people fail to bathe regularly in sacred lake waters. Rejected for service, Johnis takes the ball over the finish line anyway, making him one of the four who are sent on a quest. Along the way, the teen learns he can communicate with mythical creatures and stumbles upon a mission of even greater urgency.Thistitles publisher is best known for its Christian-interest titles, butwhilesome readers may perceive subtexts in the teens monotheistic religion and in the plotselemental clash between good and evil, Dekkersinventive approach to these themes will appeal to genre readers of many faiths.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)