R Is for Rebel

December 1, 2017
A girl fights to rebel against state-sanctioned indoctrination in this dystopian novel with a historical feel. Malliane has been running from the law ever since her arsonist parents were sent to one of New Weald's penal colonies. Four generations ago the Wealds conquered Malley's country, Milea, colonizing it and oppressing native Mileans in ways reminiscent of white Europeans' colonization of North America and oppression of Native Americans. Captured, Malley is sent to one of the national schools set up to convert Milean children into compliant, subservient citizens of New Weald. There, Malley is renamed Kem, forced to change her hairstyle and dress, and punished severely for speaking her mind. When she tries to encourage others to resist she succeeds only in getting her classmates in trouble. Malley is a sympathetic character, and her actions in the first half of the book are realistic and engaging. As the plot continues, however, it starts to crumble under the pressure of its own complexity. Representation of a deaf girl, Jey, is troubling: Jey's lip-reading skills and the other girls' sign language abilities seem far too proficient to be believed. Malley's skin color is never described; races aren't specifically named in this imagined world, though several girls are described as having brown skin and dark curly hair. An intriguing premise that doesn't quite carry through. (Fiction. 8-12)

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January 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-Malley lands at a National School after her parents are imprisoned and exiled for their resistance work against the Wealdan empire. She is shocked to see the way the other Milean girls have succumbed to the prisonlike atmosphere and is determined not to suffer the same fate. None of the other girls are willing to risk rebelling in any way-at least not at first. As Malley finds herself wearing the ugly uniform and going by a Wealdan name, she can't help but look for ways to keep her Milean identity. Soon, the other girls start to come around to Malley's way of thinking, and they all have to decide what price they are willing to pay for a taste of freedom. Themes of the cost of freedom and the power of identity shine through in powerful ways. Malley is a rebel to her core and her spirit won't let her accept the idea of submitting, especially not after what happened to her parents. While the nations depicted are imaginary, the connections to colonialism and past/present efforts to rub out supposedly inferior cultures is unmistakable. VERDICT A strong purchase with powerful themes that will stick with readers.-Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT

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