Anomaly

May 20, 2013
McGee (Right Where I Belong) pitches readers into a dystopian future in which a logical and rigid state sustains the remnants of humanity after nuclear war has devastated the surface world. The Ten Scientists who are the de facto rulers of the State have attempted to weed out emotion from the survivors. Thalli, a musician, manages to conceal her emotions and curiosity until she is asked to perform a Bach piece, whereby her abnormality is revealed. Her incarceration and looming execution spark a dangerous partnership with a childhood friend–turned-Scientist; raise questions about the nature of existence, suffering, and the afterlife; and suggest a Designer more powerful than the Scientists. Though Thalli’s “conversion” after learning of the Designer is underdeveloped, McGee successfully asks readers to consider both what it means to act (or not act) on human emotions and the role such emotions play in relationships with God. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jenni Burke, D.C. Jacobson & Associates. (July)■

December 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Thalli has spent her whole life in Pod C. After a nuclear war decimated the world aboveground, 10 scientists created a contained life called the State. Thalli, along with her peers, is a genetically engineered human who is supposed to be free of emotion. However, she is an anomaly and has always thought and felt differently from everyone else. For most of her life she has kept this secret, but one day while playing Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," she bursts into tears from the sheer beauty of it. Thalli is scheduled for annihilation. While waiting for her punishment, she comes across a childhood friend, Berk, who is training to be one of the Scientists. He manages to have her destruction postponed, but she becomes a test subject for one of the Scientists, and they hatch an escape plan that could cost them their lives. The story is captivating, with unexpected plot twists that keep readers on their toes. While the characters are occasionally difficult to relate to, and the dialogue's formal, clipped language can be off-putting, but the story has appeal. Though at its heart a science fiction novel, there are a lot of references to the Designer-Jesus-and the book will appeal mostly to fans of Christian fiction.-Kristyn Dorfman, The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY

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