My Life with the Liars

December 15, 2015
An abused and starving child, rescued from the compound of a cult in the Arizona desert, adjusts to the outside world. Just shy of her 13th birthday when Zylynn will have the ceremony binding her to the Light, she's taken away by a stranger who calls himself "Dad" and finds that the Dark world outside her community of believers has surprising appeal. Zylynn's first-person account includes both her memories and her experience of the 10 days leading up to her birthday, after which she believes she'll be locked out of the only world she's known, tortured and doomed to Darkness. Her final effort to go back--a harrowing 14-hour hike--sets the stage for a melodramatic showdown in which she learns the truth about what she has believed. There are numerous books for teens about children escaping from cults, but this one also works for a slightly younger audience. Zylynn's desperation to return to the safety of the Children Inside the Light is paralleled by her hunger. Her present-tense chronicle is filled with details of her meals; she marvels that lunch happens every day. She's overwhelmed by choices and by the very idea of family. She struggles to resist the attractions of comfort, sufficient food, and nurturing. A searing story with a pat though hopeful resolution. (Fiction. 9-14)

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January 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-Zylynn is transported from the compound of a religious cult, the only home she has ever known, and taken to an unfamiliar place; she is being cast out to live in the darkness among the liars and the evil people. Zylynn presumes that she is being punished for a small transgression, "the abomination," and to test her faith before her 13th-year ceremony. As days go by, readers learn about Zylynn's former life at the compound through her behaviors in this new and strange house. To Zylynn, food is unbelievably abundant-how can one person be allowed two slices of bacon and strawberries? She is perplexed by hugs the mother gives the other children, as she has limited memories of being hugged or comforted. The protagonist eventually sees the good in loving contact and likes having enough to eat, but she is conflicted by the beliefs she has been taught. Slowly, she begins to remember things from long ago that confuse her and start to make her question her life in the compound. As Zylynn starts to pull at the threads of her memories, more of her story unfolds and readers will be transfixed. Zylynn is well portrayed as a devout but confused young girl. VERDICT Though the resolution feels just a bit too pat, Carter takes readers on a journey with Zylynn to uncover her past and reconcile it with her future in this thought-provoking and highly discussible novel.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2016
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* YA author Carter (Me, Him, Them, and It, 2013) has written a gripping middle-grade debut about a girl born and raised on a cult compound and what happens to her when she is removed by her natural father, days before her thirteenth birthday. Zylynn has never known life on the Outside, which Father Prophet tells her is a place of greed and deception, and that prolonged exposure will lead not just to spiritual corruption but physical agony as well. Zylynn is determined to find her way back home before her thirteenth birthday so that she may take part in her Ceremony, a rite of passage that will judge her worthy by Mother God. Zylynn is a fiercely strong and unexpectedly self-aware character, especially as she has been manipulated the entirety of her young life. The Outside is disorienting, and the incongruities between what she has been taught and what she is witnessing for herself confuse her. While readers will suspect the truth behind Father Prophet and life in the Compound, revelations come as Zylynn herself discovers them, through her often claustrophobic first-person point of view. It is a compelling reading experience, and one that will not be quickly forgotten.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)