Month: February 2018

The moment I heard about this book at the What’s New in Young Adult Literature conference we attend each year, I was enthralled with the concept and looked forward to the moment when we could purchase it and I could get a copy. It has taken me awhile to have the time to read this book but in having the flu last week, the opportunity presented itself and I was able to fall into a new world.  I loved this book not in spite of all of the cultural references that I was unfamiliar with but because of these things. I loved that I got a glimpse into Nigerian culture and that I had to look up words and research some of the setting elements that are presented in this book. It gave me a much better understanding of how whitewashed the book publishing industry is and how bias creeps into society in ways that we don’t even realize. This fantasy takes readers into a realm that is filled with magic, community, and danger and yet seems oddly realistic at the same time. I loved every moment I spent with Sunny and her friends.

Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a “free agent” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?

Leave a Comment

I know that we have all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and laughed because it is what we all do. We judge books for their worth or readability and are drawn to even pick them up based off of the cover art. This is one of those books that I wish I could cover in a brown paper bag. The cover art does not represent the themes or the content of this series.  I started listening to Matched because it was one of the Book Olympiad choices.  I would have never picked up the book otherwise.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking through Cassia’s life and following her decisions down the paths she chose.  It was a journey I look forward to continuing in Crossed and Reached.

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Leave a Comment