classics

It would be hard to say exactly when the first dystopian novel was written, some would say H.G. Wells works The Time Machine and The Sleeper Awakes in the 1890's. Certainly the wave of new age dystopian literature aimed at a young adult audience is not a new phenomena. You may have heard of titles Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell, both quite dark and disturbing. If you are not ready to go there yet but would like to visit some classic works that would probably have been classified as young adult title's if the term had been invented then, here's a short list. Click on title for book cover and summary.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver, Boston, Mass,: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

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The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.

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Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451, 50th anniversary ed. New York: Del Ray Books, 2004,  c1953.

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Faber said, " Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord."

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Nolan, William F. & Johnson, George Clayton. Logan's Run, New York: Bantam Books, 1976, c1967.

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Remember,Now I lay me down to pray. Sandman, Sandman stay away.

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Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids, London: Viking, 2008, c1955.

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The essential quality of life is living, the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution; and we are a part of it.

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