The Silenced
Marena struggles to remember what life was like before the Zero Tolerance Party installed listening devices in every home. Before they murdered her mother and put her father under house arrest. A time when difference was celebrated.
When the new Minister of Education cracks down in her school, eliminating personal expression and independent thought, Marena decides she has to fight back. Fueled by her memories and animated by her mother's spirit, Marena forms a resistance group-the White Rose. With little more than words, Marena defies the state officers lurking around every corner, and embarks on a campaign of life-affirming civil disobedience.
The Silenced draws on the true story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, a movement that courageously resisted the Nazis. In an era when new technologies are accompanied by increasing surveillance, this is a powerfully relevant story of the enormous change that is possible when one person is courageous enough to speak the truth to power.
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2008-2009 Texas Tayshas Reading List
2008-2009 Bookpage Notable Title
Read on Wisconsin! Book Choice "This is far and away the best young adult novel I have read for years ... It has a marvelously vibrant and courageous young heroine, and friends who may betray or help--hard to predict. Best of all it is based on one of the most ultimately tough young women to grace this earth. The White Rose. After reading this book, you will want to read more about her." -- Louise Erdrich "Tautly plotted novel ... ripe for discussion." -- Kirkus Reviews "Gripping suspense combined with satisfyingly capable teen characters make this a good YA read ... a convincing dystopia." -- Booklist "The Silenced is unique ... I would recommend this book to students and libraries for its unique approach and readability, and I believe it could be well used in a literature or social studies class to approach an introduction to Holocaust Education" -- Shoah Education "The gripping plot will engage readers and raise fundamental questions about individual responsibility and the cost of conscience." -- VOYA "The book keeps up a fast pace that will appeal to teen readers. An interesting discussion of freedom and control that can be used as a conversation-starter as readers grapple with the question posed to Marena and the other students: 'Who do you think you are?'" -- Children's Literature "James DeVita's grim and sure-to-be-controversial novel of adolescence in a police state ... excellent, though troubling, novel." -- Bookpage (Notable Title) "Escapism with substance." -- Seattle Times "With plenty of twists and betrayals, the fast-paced plot still gives readers time to reflect: Would they risk their lives for what they believe." -- Stephanie Dunnewind "This surrealistic and grim world, wherein children are recruited to spy on their parents, lobotomized resisters are turned into unquestioning guards, and painting a rose can get you murdered, is hauntingly well developed, serving as the perfect challenge for the irascible and resolute Marena ... Compelling protagonist, terrifyingly realistic (sometimes only slightly exaggerated) setting, and gripping pace." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "This is a gripping read and young adults will certainly empathize with the characters' conflicts between self-expression and a desire to fit in. They will find the Zero Tolerance credo that the state's first priority must be the safety of its citizens to have a chilling resonance with statements in the news today." -- School Library Journal Praise for Blue American Booksellers Association Pick of the List
Virginia Center for Children's Books Best Bet for the Classroom
The Center for Children's Books Best Book of 2001 "A cheerfully diverting fantasy about a boy who demonstrates that you really can become anything you want--if you only believe." -- Booklist
