In Ally Condie’s Matched, we meet
Cassia, a teenage girl who is about to celebrate her 17th
birthday. Her 17th birthday
is a special event in the society that she lives in because it means that she can
be “matched.” Being matched with her
future husband and love is something that Cassia has dreamed about for a long
time. When it is time for her matching
ceremony, Cassia is allowed to abandon her plain clothes and wear a beautiful
dress that had been statistically picked just for her based off of her former
wardrobe choices and habits. Though it
appears that she has some elements of freedom, she does not. At the matching ceremony, Cassia is matched
with her best friend Xander. This is a
very rare occurrence, as people from the same area are rarely matched. Cassia is very excited and as soon as she
gets home she views the chip that provides all of the information about her
match, who is supposed to be Xander. To
Cassia’s surprise, Xander is not who appears on the screen, rather another boy
who she knows, Ky. This event causes
Cassia to question the government, something she has never done before. Was Ky supposed to be her match, rather than
Xander? As Cassia struggles to find the
answer to many of these questions, the government starts to keep a close eye on
her. Some of her choices have
devastating consequences, but Cassia is now determined to make her own fate and
find true love.
Being a fan of the
Hunger Games, The Giver and other books about dystopian societies, I loved this
book as well! I thought though there are
many books with similar themes, it had a fresh perspective and kept me
guessing. This is a book that I could
not put down and had to keep reading, even if it were until 2 a.m.! It is part
of a 3-book series and I am excited to read the remaining books.Being that this series is so similar to other books
about dystopian societies, I thought that it would be interesting for students
to read Matched and another dystopian novel of their choice, in an effort to
compare and contrast the stories.
Students could pick from The Hunger Games, The Giver, Divergent,
Delirium, The Moon Dwellers, Across the Universe, etc.
After
reading both books, students could compare and contrast settings, characters,
main events, and type of government rule, problems, resolutions, and essential
message. This would provide a great
analysis of this very popular genre of young-adult fiction.
After analyzing the
genre and essential message, students would be able to write their own short
story. Their short story would be about
a dystopian society and would follow similar formats of the books they
analyzed.
I have attached the book synopsis provided by the author, Ally Condie! Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jamie
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