Matched by: Ally Condie

Matched is about a girl named Cassia who lives in a society in the future where the government plans out your whole life; who you will marry, what your job will be, when you will have kids, and when you will die.

Theme And Summary:
When you turn 17 you have a match banquet to see who your match will be and see who you will marry and spend the rest of your life with. Cassia was matched with her friend Xander, which rarely happens; when you know the person who you are matched with, you normally don't know your match at all. When she was matched with him she receives a micro card of Xanders life information and childhood pictures, but when Cassia goes to look at the micro card it doesn't show Xander, it shows a boy named Ky. Ky was chosen to be a single; someone who will not have a Match and will live his life on his own because both his parents  passed away when he was younger. This causes some difficulties, if Xander is really suppose to be her match or if Ky is going to be her new Match. Besides Cassia doesn't need to look at Xander's micro card because she already knows all their is to know about Xander since they have been friend for a long time. What you learn from this is that we should be happy we live in a place where you get to choose your own life, who you marry, what your job will be, when you will have kids. and not have the government or higher class people choose your life for you, like how life is in Matched.

The theme for the characters in the story is "falling in love with a person's story is the same as falling in love with person himself"(196). This could be a theme for the characters because the story line is that you don't get to choose who you love the government officials choose for you. But Cassia isn't in love with her Match, she is falling in love with another person; Ky, who is the person on Xander's micro card. Cassia ends up meeting Ky and starts to like him more then her Match who she thought at first she was extremely happy that Xander was her Match.

Characters: Cassia is the main character and the story is told in her point of view. At the beginning of the novel Cassia seems to have a shy and quiet personality. Also she seem lost and is trying to find her true self. Throughout the story Cassia begins to gain more confidence and starts to become more outgoing. Cassia is a dynamic character.

Xander is another important character. He is a boy who has known Cassia since as long as he can remember. Xander and Cassia end up being matches for each other at the match banquet. At the beginning of the story he seems confident and strong within himself. You can see that throughout the text. I have not read far enough to determine how the character changes throughout the text.

Ky is another character who is introduced further in the story. Ky is the boy who Cassia saw on Xander's micro card. Both of his parents passed away in his childhood. Ky was chosen to be a single, which is when you will have no match and you will live alone, never get married and never have kids. Later in the story Cassia starts to fall in love with Ky instead of Xander.

Analysis:
From what I have read so far I can predict that Cassia will be matched with Xander because they were first matched together at the Match banquet. "I might know my Match. He might be someone who goes to the same Second School that I do, someone I see everyday, someone- "Xander Thomas Carrow." This quote explains how she should be matched with Xander because Xander was her original Match to begin with, and there was probably the micro card just got mixed up. I can also predict that she will not be matched with Ky because when they first announced that Cassia and Xander are Matched something sparked between them and with Ky nothing happened.

Reading Skills:
When I started reading Matched I predicted that Cassia will end up with Xander because they were original matches. I didn't think she would end up with Ky, but in the book Cassia starts to think she might be falling in love with Ky "I Read things I shouldn't read and learn things I'm not meant to know and I might be falling in love with someone else."(p. 195) this means that fiat could want her and Ky to be together; as she believes. Cassia is breaking rules because she is talking to someone who is not her match and is falling for someone who isn't her Match.

Recommendations:
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels like The Hunger Games series or teen romance books. Also if you read and enjoyed matched, you could read the other books in the trilogy; Crossed and Reached. I have also read The Giver by: lois Lowry. The Giver is similar to Matched in ways which it takes place in the future and the government plans out everyones life.

"The hottest YA that's title to hit the bookstores since The Hunger Games." -Entertainment Weekly

"Impressive writing that's bound to captivate young minds." - Los Angeles Times

"If you like a ton of romance with your totalitarian government, this novel is for you!" - Family Circle


Matched Book Review Link

The Help by: Kathryn Stockett



Over the summer I read The Help. The Help is about a college graduate, Skeeter, who wants to be a writer but her mother wants her to be a wife. Skeeter decides to write a book about the maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. She interviews the maids, Minny, Aiblieen and many others.



The main message or theme in The Help is about how one person can change a whole town. This is the theme because once the whole town of Jackson finds out about the book it changes everything. Another message is that everyone can come together no matter what your diffrences are, because the maids and the house wife's have a lot of diffrences but they realized that they can come together.



The characters in the help are Skeeter, Minny, Aiblieen, And Celia. Skeeter is a college grad who is striving to be a writer but her mother doesn't want her to be one. In the beginning of the story she is scared to become a writer because all of her friends are going to be housewife's but by the end she is proud of her work. Minny is a black maid, at the beginning she got fired from her job. She got a job working for Celia Foote, who at first didn't tell her husband that she got a maid but he finds out. Aiblieen is a older maid, who raises Mrs. Leefolts's daughter, Mae Mobley. Celia is the wife of Johnny Foote. Who hires Minny as her maid without her husband approval. Celia begins to change throughout the story with the help of Minny.

 

 

 

 

 

This article is about how the author got rejected 60 times before The Help was published.

The Help article

 

 

Movie trailer for The Help:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbuKgzgeUIU