Starters

April 30, 2012
Newcomer Price launches a dystopian series that offers familiar elements of the genre, but also a notable command of technique. The immersive storytelling swoops along with minimal exposition. As a result, readers may initially feel as disoriented as heroine Callie Woodland. Sixteen years old and homeless in a post-plague world, Callie has a sick brother to keep safe and few choices. "The spores" wiped out most of the working-age population; the seniors who remain have developed ways to dramatically extend their life spans. To them, young people (aka "Starters") are just another resource for voracious "Enders" to consume. When Callie sells her body as a rental, to be occupied by the mind of a wealthy Ender, all she knows is that the fee will pay for a place to live afterward. She's not supposed to wake up in someone else's life or hear someone else's voice in her head. And she never imagined her body being used to implement a horrific scheme. Raising questions about class, property, and body/mind separation, Price's thriller features well-crafted tension, believable villains, and moments of stolen sweetness. Ages 12âup. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman.

February 15, 2012
In a future in which the elderly hold all of the power, the only things left for them to take are the bodies of the young. After a germ-warfare attack, America was only able to vaccinate high-risk groups--medically vulnerable children and senior citizens--in time, creating an age gulf and an orphaned generation. Those without guardians, like Callie and her baby brother, scavenge and sneak to survive, lest marshals catch and throw them in institutions much like prisons. Desperation leads Callie to Prime Destinations, a body-bank that circumvents laws that prohibit minors from working by allowing them to donate their bodies (to be controlled by an elderly renter through neurochips and a brain-to-computer connection) for a stipend. Only one rental away from having the money to care for her ailing brother, Callie finds her chip drastically malfunctioning during a rental, enabling her to take partial control of her body back from a renter who plans on using her for murder. In between living the high life as a socialite grandniece and ward of her wealthy renter, Callie learns of plots more dangerous than the renter's and that only she can stop them. Some exposition is clumsily dropped in through dialogue, and some plot aspects don't hold up to scrutiny, but the twists and turns come so fast that readers will stay hooked. Constantly rising stakes keep this debut intense. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

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July 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-In a future United States and following the "spore wars"-an attack by Pacific Rim countries resulting in the death of millions of Americans-the world is populated almost solely by children and teens, known as "Starters," and by adults over age 60, known as "Enders." Advances in health and technology have lengthened the average human life span to 200 years and, following the deaths of those known as "Middles," the Enders are in control. As an answer to the fantasies of rich Enders, an enterprising company is offering young bodies for rent to the elderly. Callie Woodland, who lost her parents in the spore wars, considers Prime Destinations her last chance. By offering her body for rentals, she can earn enough money to move her and her ailing brother to a safe home where they might have the chance of living normal lives without fear of the government marshals who round up unattended minors and institutionalize them. When the microchip implanted in her brain to facilitate the body-rental process malfunctions, Callie becomes privy to a Prime Destinations plot to sell young bodies to Enders, and she embarks on a plan to reveal this murderous scheme. Its generation versus generation conflict makes Price's first novel an obvious companion to The Hunger Games, and its fast pace and resourceful female protagonist extend this comparison.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Grades 7-10 Youthful appearances still matter in the future version of Beverly Hills and its environs as depicted in this fast-paced dystopian novel. The central idea is that senior citizens, many of whom top 120 years, exploit the world's youth in order to look good and relive their own teen years. Callie, orphaned along with her brother in a spore war that took out everyone middle-aged, is recruited by a corporation named Prime to become a body donor, letting an elderly woman possess her body for weeks at a time. She is hopeful the money will buy her sibling needed health care. Instead she finds herself in the midst of a plot to expose Prime's true evils, including the unethical treatment of starters, the name given to her world's young people. This story of those who are not what they seem twists along with multiple-identity switcheroos and chase scenes worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Romance also becomes a complication when no one can be sure who really resides in that hot body. The inevitable sequel can't appear soon enough. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This lead title should benefit from heavy pre-pub promotion (videos, social outreach) and on-sale ballyhoo as well (author tours, theater advertising, floor displays, etc.).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

May 28, 2012
In this audio edition of Price’s dystopian fantasy, in an effort to save her ailing brother and acquire some much needed money, young Callie—who lost her parents during the Spore Wars—allows her body to be used as a shell by senior citizens wanting to be young again. As a shell in a disease-ravaged world, Callie makes two terrible discoveries: that shells are dying and that orphans are being forced to serve as permanent shells. Rebecca Lowman provides well-paced, clear narration and captures the spirit of the novel’s young protagonist. The voices Lowman lends to male characters are distinct and appropriate, but many of her female characters sound melodramatic. Ages 12–up. A Delacorte hardcover.

July 1, 2012
After biological warfare kills all adults under sixty, teenage Callie takes responsibility for her little brother. In need of money, she rents her body to wealthy elderly people wanting to be young "for a little while." Despite the often weak characterization, the fast-paced plot and requisite (but underwhelming) love triangle will entertain fans of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)