The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams

Title: The Chosen One

Author: Carol Lynch Williams

Publish Date: May 2009

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 224pp

IBSN: 0312555113

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age Range: 12 and up

Price: $16.95

Annotation: Kyra lives with a polygamous cult on a desert compound. Kyra who is almost 14 has already been offered up to be married to a 60 year old man. A man that is her uncle no less. As Kyra grapples with her future as she is secretly discovering books and boys. Should she run away from her entire everything she knows or face her follow her fate and become a seventh wife?

Summary: Kyra, 13, grew up on a polygamist commune with her multi mothers and large list of siblings. Although she is young, in her world, 13 is a marriageable age. And to her shock she has been chosen for her Uncle who is a shocking 60 years old. After discovering a book mobile (a forbidden thing on the compound), Kyra escapes into the world of books at every chance she gets. If Kyra, A CHOSEN ONE, marries her Uncle, she will be the seventh wife, and her new found world will surely be gone. Surely she is being punished with having to wed her Uncle by God for reading these books. And that boy on the compound she likes made her punishment even worse. Didn't it? Now Kyra is beginning to feel confused but if she doesn't go along with her fate, her punishment will be brutal. But is running away an option? Can she fathom loosing her family forever?

Evaluation: This book is riveting, and even nostalgic. This is a piece of you that is a 13 year old girl experience things like first crushes, then there is another part of you that is rediscovering all those books she reads along side her. And lastly there is the part that has your heart just stopped in empathy for her. It's fascinating, horrifying, and should be more widely published. I had to search for this book! I absolutely loved it and was torn up inside for her.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Any teen that has been brought up in any extreme religion or cult will get something out of this book. And the rest of us can stop looking down at people who live on these communes cause you can see how the a child knows no other life.

Reason this book was chosen: This book is so unique and haunting. It really makes you think. And I can't imagine having gone through this and not having anybody to relate to. Having a book like this available could very well be a savior to a lost child and in turn they may not feel so one sided and isolated. Shocking.

Librarian Created Trailer! Amazing!