Must Read Monday: Spring Break Edition {Matched series}

Welcome to my spring break addition of Must Read Monday hosted by the fabulous Amanda at Teaching Maddness! Since, it's spring break, I put down some of my students' book club novels and picked up something I've been wanting to read. What is my genre of choice? Seventh grade girl science fiction of course!  This past weekend I read, Matched by Ally Condie. Many of my students have read The Hunger Games and Divergent but I don't put those out in my library since they are more mature novels that I feel parents should be giving the "okay" on. However, Matched is the least "teen" of them all so far...

Matched is about a futuristic society in which girls and boys are "matched" at seventeen. When you become matched this is the person you will marry and spend the rest of your life with. You also are put into a career path and start toward down the road to adulthood. All is well for Cassia, the main character, until there is a glitch in the matching system and she gets two matches! Oh no!

The first book was a fast read. Plus, it was very PG. Nothing "young adult" really takes place in the novel besides a few dates. I would definitely consider letting a few of my higher readers choose this book to read for pleasure with a parent approval. According to Scholastic Book Wizard the Guided Reading Level is a Z and the lexile is 680.

I've started on the second book, Crossed today. So far, I'm not a big fan. The book is no longer told solely by the main character but alternates between characters. It doesn't flow quite as quickly or as smoothly has the first book Matched. If you're into this genre or teach older students, I highly recommend Scott Westerfield's Uglies series! So far, it has this series topped in writing, plot, and style.

My goal is to read the trilogy over break and then decide they can go in the classroom library. Many of my students grabbed copies at our recent Scholastic Book Fair because they were near Hunger Games and Divergent. I can already tell I'm not going to enjoy them quite as much as Hunger Games or Divergent but they may be the most appropriate for my fifth graders who love that genre. We shall have to wait and see!