How far would you go to save your child? What laws would you break, what secrets would you keep, what would you hide to keep your child alive?
In The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, the main character’s parents have to ask themselves those questions. But they don’t live in a place like us, their futuristic world has scientific advances that allow them to prolong life, bringing people back from the brink of death to live again.
But these methods aren’t accepted by the world and there are agencies that police medical procedures and what has been done to Jenna is illegal. As Jenna learns more about what has happened to her, what is in her past, and what her parents don’t want her to know, she becomes discontent with their decision and takes drastic measures to feel human again.
I could not put this book down, the reader learns (along with Jenna) what her past was and what lengths her parents have gone to keep her alive. While not high suspense, Pearson keeps you on your toes just enough that you can’t relax or anticipate what happens next. And the ending was a little surprising.
I connected with Jenna’s parents even though the majority of the book I didn’t like them. To lose a child seems unbearable and as a parent, I sympathize with the choices they had to make. As with most decisions we make for our children, we hope we’re making the right ones, but sometimes we just don’t know.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox seems to be a little higher level reading than some of my students are capable of, obviously there are many science references that might turn some lower readers off, but I will definitely share this with my classes. Especially as we just finished up reading The Giver, another good story set in the future with science ruling a world that isn’t what it seems.
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