Books >
Unwind

Unwind
This edition: Hardcover, 352 pages
Ages: 14 and up
Availability: This title is temporarily out of stock, please check back soon.
List Price: $16.99
Your Price: $13.59 You Save $3.40 (20%)
Also available in

Awards and Nominations

  • Abraham Lincoln Book Award Master List (IL)
  • ALA Best Books For Young Adults
  • ALA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
  • Bank Street Best Books of the Year
  • Beehive Award Master List (UT)
  • Black Eyed Susan Book Award Master List (MD)
  • California Young Reader Medal Nominee
  • Evergreen Book Award Master List (WA)
  • Garden State Children's Book Award Nominee (NJ)
  • Gateway Readers Award Nominee (MO)
  • Georgia Peach Book Award Master List
  • Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee (AZ)
  • Green Mountain Book Award Master List (VT)
  • Isinglass Teen Read List Selection
  • Kentucky Bluegrass Award Master List
  • Nevada Young Reader's Award Nominee
  • Nevada Young Readers' Award
  • Nutmeg Children's Book Award (CT)
  • NYPL "Books for the Teen Age"
  • Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee
  • Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee
  • Sequoyah Children's Book Award (OK)
  • Sequoyah Young Adult Master List (OK)
  • Texas Lone Star Reading List
  • Texas Tayshas High School Reading List
  • Virginia Readers’ Choice Award Master List
  • Young Adult Reading Program Reading List Selection (SD)
See all

Description

In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, a parent may choose to retroactively get rid of a child through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding ensures that the child's life doesn’t “technically” end by transplanting all the organs in the child's body to various recipients. Now a common and accepted practice in society, troublesome or unwanted teens are able to easily be unwound.

With breath-taking suspense, this book follows three teens who all become runaway Unwinds: Connor, a rebel whose parents have ordered his unwinding; Risa, a ward of the state who is to be unwound due to cost-cutting; and Lev, his parents' tenth child whose unwinding has been planned since birth as a religious tithing. As their paths intersect and lives hang in the balance, Shusterman examines serious moral issues in a way that will keep readers turning the pages to see if Connor, Risa, and Lev avoid meeting their untimely ends.
* "Gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller...The issues raised could not be more provocative--the sanctity of life, the meaning of being human--while the delivery could hardly be more engrossing or better aimed to teens."
-- Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "A thought-provoking, well-paced read that will appeal widely."
-- School Library Journal, starred review
"Well-written, this draws the readers into a world that is both familiar and strangely foreign, and generates feelings of horror, disturbance, disgust and fear. As with classics such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, one can only hope that this vision of the future never becomes reality."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Poignant, compelling, and ultimately terrifying, this book will enjoy popularity with a wide range of readers."
-- VOYA, 4Q4P
"Following in the footsteps of Jonathan Swift, Shusterman uncorks a Modest Proposal of his own to solve a Pro-Life/Pro-Choice dilemma...ingeniously developed cast and premise."
-- Booklist
"Nail-biting, character-driven thriller."
-- The Horn Book
"The shocking premise is unveiled immediately, and a nail-biting pace is sustained throughout, with the teens flung headlong into a true life-or-death struggle...these haunting debates will likely linger in the reader's mind even after the riveting plot fades...an ideal blend of philosophy and action set in a compelling futuristic landscape."
-- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"The power of the novel lies in what it doesn't do: come down explicitly on one side or the other."
-- The New York Times Book Review
Blogcritics.org, October 1, 2011
...Goodall • Jellicoe Road • Jo Treggiari • Kelly Barnhill • Mary Doria Russell • Melina Marchetta • Neal Shusterman • post-apocalyptic • Scholastic Press • Suzanne Collins • The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton • ...