A Long and Happy Life?

When Jenna first finds out that she might live a couple of hundred years, she's not too happy. How would you feel about living so long? What would be good about it? What would be not so good?

Interested in amnesia?

Explore some other books that deal with amnesia:

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Zevin
Jacob's Ladder by Keaney
The Lost One by Ewing
Stolen by Vande Velde
Lexi by Matthews

Publisher's Weekly asks Mary E. Pearson

"What was the original spark for your story?

There were a lot of different inspirations but the biggest one was that my youngest daughter, Jessica, was diagnosed with cancer in 2000. As any parent would be, I was terrified. She was 17 years old. Spending all that time in the world of medicine and hospitals, I realized how incredibly lucky we were. Fifty years earlier she would have died from it. (Jessica, now cured, had Hodgkin's lymphoma.) Now, there's an excellent cure rate. So that got me thinking, what will medicine be capable of doing 50 years from now? And as she was going through the treatment, we met a lot of children who were far sicker, or who were tiny little babies. At least my daughter could talk to me. I spent a lot of time thinking about what those parents were going through and the question gnawed at me, 'How far would a parent go to save a child?'"

So, how far do you think you would go to save your child? How far do you think your parents would go?

Human Engineering - Genetic Engineering - Cloning

Interested in the topics raised by The Adoration of Jenna Fox?
Try these books:

Sharp North by Cave
House of the Scorpion by Farmer
Star Split by Lasky
Shade's Children by Nix
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by Patterson
Gem X by Singer
Double Helix by Werlin

Kate M's Review of The Adoration of Jenna Fox

This was a fantastic book and I recommend it for ages 12-112. Every chapter led to something else, so you never wanted to put the book down. The author used alot of detail so you actually felt like you were in a coma, which was cool, in a weird way. My only complaint is that the big secret was reveled a smidge too early, so because of that, near the end it got sort of boring. The ending, however, made up for all that boring time and you completely forgot about that part. So if you need to find something to do on a rainy day (or anyday), this is the perfect book for you and once you start, you can't stop. Kate M.

Stacy's Review of this month's book: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

I love the voice of Jenna Fox. She's very direct, straightforward, pared down, which allows you to wonder about the same things she's wondering about. "I used to be someone. Someone named Jenna Fox. That's what they tell me. But I am more than a name. More than they tell me." Jenna has woken up from "a coma" with no memory of who she is, or what has happened to her. Her parents encourage her to watch endless DVD's of herself growing up, seemingly documenting every important moment of her life, showing what she comes to think of as her parents' "adoration of Jenna Fox." Her narrative is interspersed with even more pared-down free verse poems which are very affecting."There is a dark place.A place where I have no eyes, no mouth. No words.I can't cry out because I have no breath. The silence is so deep I want to die.But I can't.The darkness and silence go on forever.It is not a dream.I don't dream."This book is one of those remarkable science fiction books that bring us to ask the most basic ethical questions, questions about the meaning of life and self. As Jenna begins to remember things from her past, the memories raise even more questions for her about what has happened to her, and what her parents are keeping from her. I read this book in one afternoon because I couldn't put it down. I love the ending, where the author manages to bring everything full circle without tedious explanations or an overly simplistic plot.

The School for Dangerous Girls

Imagine yourself cast away by your parents, sent to Hidden Oak boarding school. Not so bad, but now imagine if Hidden Oak was a school for “Dangerous girls,” where almost all of the girls have some sort of criminal record. What goes on behind the locked doors of the school? The school's job is to reform criminal girls, but what about girls who can’t be reformed? Where do they go? And what about the mansion’s dark past? Find out these questions and more by reading The School For Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer. Review by Liz

Famous People Who Have Disappeared - D.B. Cooper

To this day, no one knows his real name but on Nov. 24, 1971, everyone in America was talking about the mysterious man who called himself "D.B. Cooper." That day, Cooper hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305 and its 36 passengers using a briefcase that he said contained a bomb. "We will ask you to stay there until we get coordinated with our friend in the back," the pilot told the control tower after the plane landed in Seattle. Once $200,000 and several parachutes were delivered per Cooper's request, he demanded the plane fly him to Mexico. He also asked for the rear door to remain unlocked and the plane to be flown low and slow.
Cooper clearly had a plan, although officials wouldn't realize what it was until it was too late. While the plane flew to Reno (ostensibly for a re-fueling stop), Cooper parachuted into the night. Despite the fact that law-enforcement officials in five different planes were tailing the jetliner, no one witnessed the jump. Though the FBI contends that Cooper couldn't have survived, they released new composite sketches in 2007 in the hopes of closing the case. (Time Magazine)

Famous People Who Have Disappeared - Frank Morris & John and Clarence Anglin

Dubbed "The Rock" for its formidable location in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz held prisoners during the Civil War. But after the Lindbergh kidnapping, FDR's Attorney General turned the island into a Fort Knox-like fortress for the nation's most horrific criminals — Al Capone, "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert Stroud, the infamous "Birdman of Alcatraz." During the 1960s, it also held three men who would later defy the odds and manage to escape: Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin. Morris and the Anglin brothers spent more than two years planning their getaway.
The scheme was a complicated one that involved MacGyver-like ingenuity. Using what little materials they could buy or steal, the men drilled holes in the air vents of their cells, fashioned lifelike dummy heads made of plaster, flesh-tone paint, and real human hair, and created a raft. On the night of June 11, 1962, they shimmied through the air vents and into a utility corridor. From there, they made it to the prison's roof and later scaled down a smoke stack to reach the shore. After prison officials learned of their escape, authorities launched one of the largest manhunts since the Lindbergh kidnapping. The trio were never found, though most believe they drowned. The FBI officially closed the case in 1979. That same year, Clint Eastwood starred as Morris in the film Escape From Alcatraz. (Time Magazine)

Famous People Who Have Disappeared - Amelia Earhart

The Kansas native achieved a number of "firsts" as a female aviator, becoming an icon to women around the world in the process. By the time she was 40, Earhart had become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, the first woman to fly non-stop across the U.S. and the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross award. But there was still one record that alluded her — she wanted to become the first female aviator to fly around the world.
On June 1, 1937, Earhart and co-pilot Fred Noonan set off in their "flying laboratory" from Miami and headed toward Howland island, some 2,550 miles away. They never reached their destination. (The plane's navigation equipment, it turns out, had been malfunctioning before their departure). Almost immediately, Earhart's husband, publisher George Palmer Putnam, sent a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting the help of the U.S. Navy. At a cost of $250,000 a day, military ships scoured the ocean for any sign of Earhart, her co-pilot or the plane. Two years later, her death was officially declared. (Time Magazine)

Comments and Questions from a reader

I just finished "How To Disappear And Never Be Found." I liked it better than the last book. It definitely kept my attention, and I was quite surprised by the ending. I was left with lots of questions, though. After I finished the book and realized that now Margaret's mother would be allowing Uncle Ratt to continue living as a recluse in the house, I found myself wondering... Is that really okay? He seems happy living in his reclusive world, but still... I also wonder about Margaret's Mom. The fact that her two daughters manage to catch a ferry and leave town for days without her even noticing seems a bit concerning, especially with Sophie being so young. Does anyone (perhaps Boyd's family) have an obligation in this situation? I know the book is meant to be somewhat funny and mysterious, and I did enjoy it, so maybe I shouldn't worry about these issues. Ellen

Not so happy, not so birthday

"There’s that moment, right before you blow out the candles on your birthday cake, that moment you have a fleeting sense of something not so happy and not so birthday. Maybe it comes from understanding the order of things, because I know Sophie doesn’t feel it yet. When I was her age, I didn’t feel it, either. But once you understand the order of things, you know that when the presents are opened, you’ll never again be able to wonder what they might be. And when the candles are blown out, it’s time to eat the cake. And when the cake is eaten, there’s nothing left but to say thank you and send everyone home. I still like cake and I still like presents. It’s just that now, there’s one little moment of sadness right before I blow out the candles—that one little moment
where I peek into the future and say good-bye to another birthday, even before it’s over."

This is probably my favorite quote from How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found. I always get that feeling myself on Christmas Eve when I'm ready to go to bed, and even though I'm excited that in the morning it will be Christmas, I'm always a little sad to know that soon it will all be over. Do you ever feel this way?