The Silenced by James DeVita (Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins, June 2007). Reading is outlawed. Writing is outlawed. Individual identity? Irrelevant. Diversity? Suspect, inferior. Defiance? Punished by death or worse. The Zero Tolerance Party is listening everywhere, and it’s tough to know whom to trust. What happens when Marena forms her own resistance movement, the White Rose? Ages 12-up.

Inspired by the White Rose group that opposed the Nazi regime in Germany, DeVita’s novel touches on issues still relevant today. Sure to lend itself to lively conversation. The novel brought to mind Margaret Peterson Haddix‘s Shadow Children series (beginning with Among the Hidden (Simon & Schuster, 1998)) and George Orwell’s 1984. Excellent author’s note.