THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary Pearson

I always want to be open to stretching myself as a reader. Right now, I'm about two-thirds of the way through an ARC of  THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX. The book, would, I guess be classified as kind of futuristic science fiction, which is not a genre I regularly read. I'm really enjoying the book, however, and carried it around all weekend, greedily grabbing a few pages here and a few pages there. It's a really suspenseful book, and knowing that I have a super busy week ahead, I'm having to fight off the urge to read the ending and just see how it all ends up.

Jenna Fox is a seventeen-year-old girl, an only child, who is in a coma after being involved in a horrible accident. She finally awakens more than a year later, and gradually discovers some shocking truths about her new life. The book is set approximately 20 years from now, and incorporates some really interesting/troubling ideas about biomedical engineering, and what is/is not crossing the line.

As I am reading this book, I keep thinking about I AM LEGEND, a movie I saw over break. In that movie, a doctor develops a cure for cancer. The cure goes bad, however, and much of the world is wiped out by a group of "mutant humans" who have no hair, no pigmentation and are very, very aggressive. Will Smith is one of the only humans left in New York City, where he lives with his dog, Sam. I didn't especially like the movie; the idea of living completely alone like that was really troubling to me, and there's one part, involving Will and his dog that was to me, as a dog lover, absolutely heartbreaking (I won't tell in case you are still going to see it). 

My two middle school sons and all of their friends, however, ABSOLUTELY LOVED this movie. I think it would really grab their attention if I said, "You know how much you liked, "I AM LEGEND?" Well, here's a book that deals with the same kind of issues. I think they'd be knocking each other down to get to the book. I can't wait to finish it, so I can share it with them.