A Reading Group Guide to The Pledge By Kimberly Derting About the book Seventeen-year-old Charlaina, “Charlie,” lives in Ludania, a country ruled by a cruel monarch and strictly stratified by a caste system divided by language. The smallest transgression results in immediate death. But Charlie has lived her life with a secret so dangerous that if anyone ever found out, she’d be killed. Charlie can instinctively understand the languages of every caste, including the strange new language spoken by Max, a beautiful and mysterious boy whom Charlie meets one night at an underground club. Though Charlie is intensely drawn to Max, she isn’t sure where his loyalties lie. As the violent clashes between the totalitarian monarchy and the rebel forces escalate, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger—her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime. Common Core Curriculum Standards: Reading Standards for Literature Key Ideas and Details RL 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. RL 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting deta see more