Review by Booklist Review
Mori, Theo, Julia, and Benji are the kids of Firefly Lane in Old Harmonie, a carefully planned village of the future, located just outside Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each of them is 12 years old, and they are looking forward to another idyllic summer together. Their only worry is that they must choose their latency, a powerful trait (like puzzle solving, physical agility, or photographic memory) that will be super-enhanced later that year. Then a new girl moves in for the first time since anyone can remember, and Firefly Lane will never be quite the same. Ilana is beautiful, brave, athletic, and practically perfect maybe too perfect? and her strangeness forces the kids to challenge their parents, their utopian community, and their own ideas about life, loyalty, and humanity. The story starts slowly, and Ilana's secret may be obvious to observant readers, but the end will have children turning pages and thinking about important questions. An excellent choice for those who love Lois Lowry's The Giver or Margaret Peterson Haddix's sci-fi adventures.--Zeitlin Cooke, Ariel Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Twelve-year-old Mori narrates this suspenseful tale set in the not-so-distant future in Old Harmonie, a closed community founded by the Krita corporation on the outskirts of Boston. "We never stopped experimenting and innovating," says Mori of her home, "but outside they were just struggling to get by." On their 13th birthdays, children in communities like Old Harmonie learn their genetic code, discover whether they are "natural" or genetically "designed," and reveal their chosen "latency," a hidden aptitude that will then be released through surgery. When a new girl, Ilana, moves onto Firefly Lane, her presence disrupts the comfortable dynamics among Mori and her best friends, Julia, Theo, and Benji, who find something "just a little off" about Ilana, despite her easygoing manner. After their group coalesces into "The Firefly Five," the children's gradual realization of Ilana's true nature leads to shocking and painful revelations about their community, their parents, and themselves. In this gripping novel, Blakemore (The Friendship Riddle) creates a disturbingly ordered world in which questions about friendship and family offer courageous and heartwarming testaments to the human spirit. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Mori has lived her whole life in the perfectly planned Old Harmonie community, outside of Boston. As she nears her 13th birthday, she is consumed with thoughts of what her latency, a special brain enhancement, should be, and she's ready to enjoy her summer off from school. Then Ilana moves into the tight-knit neighborhood and begins asking questions that make Mori and her friends question everything they've ever believed about their community. The story starts slowly as Mori explains, in great detail, the way her society works. This feels heavy-handed at times, and strange to hear from a 12 year old. The mystery of both the community and Ilana are slowly revealed, though astute readers may guess Ilana's secret long before. Blakemore leaves some questions unanswered, especially about the world outside Old Harmonie, and the ending leaves room for a sequel. Cassandra Morris brings the tale alive with her narration, differentiating nicely among characters. VERDICT A solid choice for middle grade readers not quite ready for YA dystopians. ["A very good selection for middle grade readers drawn to high-concept science fiction": SLJ 4/16 review of the Bloomsbury book.]-Elizabeth Elsbree, Aurora Public Library, IL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A girl realizes her suburban, corporate-run utopia has dark underpinnings. Twelve-year-old Mori lives on a quaint cul-de-sac west of Boston, in a Kritopia (a utopia sponsored by the Krita Corp.), one of several around the world. She and her friends are partly free-rangethey can take off on their bikes anytimebut everyone wears a nonremovable "watchu," which tells time but also watches its wearer. At age 13, kids announce their "latency"an inner skill that will be surgically releasedand find out whether they're "natural" (made from their parents' DNA) or "designed" (made from cloned or modified DNA). Into this idyllic neighborhood comes new girl Ilana, who's gorgeous and strong but doesn't quite fit in. Ilana pauses oddly before answering questions, and unlike Mori, whose heritage is Japanese and Scottish, brown-skinned, chestnut-haired, green-eyed Ilana knows of no heritage. This society's secrets aren't gentle, but the text reveals them gently. The pacing is cautiouslike Mori herself, though she vaguely remembers having been braver in the past. As Mori and the others break a huge rule, walking along abandoned train tracks toward the rough and scary city to save a friend's life, readers will eagerly await the next installment. Less stark than The Giver (1993), this welcome addition to the dystopic utopia genre is a young cousin of Ally Condie's Matched (2010) and Mary Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox (2008). (Science fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
