My Favorite Genre

This past week I had the opportunity to book talk my favorite genre - science fiction - for Mrs. Hayes/Georges's advanced Language Arts class. I had a most difficult time keeping the number of books I talked about low because there are so many really good science fiction books in our library. The one book that I didn't talk about (because I hadn't finished reading it yet) was Janet McNaughton's The Secret Under My Skin. Now that I have finished it, I would like to share this book with you.

The story centers around a young girl who was orphaned when she was two or three years old. For a number of years she lived on the streets until the Commission picked her up and put her in a work camp. So far this story could have taken place any time in history, but it really takes place in the future -- a future where human destruction of the environment has gotten so bad that the society as we know today fell apart and a military society and a religious society are now struggling for power. Blay, who later finds that her real name is Blake, sees both sides of this struggle when she lives in the work camp and when she is chosen as a servant for the bio-indicator who is preparing for investiture. Blake worries about her future and learns to be concerned about the future of her world as she searches for clues to help her regain her past. This story may present our future if we are not more aware of our environment and takes steps to preserve it.