I love to do intergenerational programming. At my current job I haven't really done a lot, but I am going to change that. At my last library, the Senior Adult Services Librarian and I did a ton of it. We were SO blessed to be able to present at the 08 PLA Conference in AMAZING Minneapolis about it. It was a time I'll never forget and for which I'll always be thankful. It is incredible to see communication and fun taking place among the generations. Among? Between? I am not sure, what I mean is, it is awesome when they are all together doing something! Starters has an intergenerational flair, in a mostly dystopian way, but not always!
Picture the future. There's been a war. Germ warfare deal and only the young and old have survived because they were the ones first vaccinated, because they were the most vulnerable. Callie and Tyler are "unclaimed minors" because their parents are dead and they have no living relatives. That means that they have to hide from the police and scrape along living with other unclaimed minors in abandoned buildings. They are Starters. Enders are the old folks. Eighty to say, two hundred year olds. Some are super rich and some are just regular folks getting by.
Tyler is a little dude, a pre-teen and not so healthy. Callie hears about a way to make some amazing money: an under ground company allows really, really rich Enders to rent the bodies of Starters so that they can run around and play sports, dance, party, etc.
The only thing is...something bad has happened while Callie was being rented...Callie is actually still in her body but living the life of the Ender who is supposed to be renting it.
There are evil dudes and government corruption and big liars and guns and all kinds of cool technologies. But there is also the well-developed character of Callie and a very well done plot. The tension is built incredibly well and the ending of the book, even though there will be a sequel, doesn't make you feel cheated. Excellent and different dystopian deal!
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