FEED by M.T. Anderson-REVIEW

Titus is a a typical teen.  He lives with his parents and annoying younger brother, likes to hang out with his friends, and is always looking for something exciting to do. During Spring Break, he and his friends decide to go to the Moon.  That’s right – the Moon. Titus lives in a technologically advanced future where people cruise around in “upcars” and have chip implants for the Feed. The Feed is great. It allows the government and advertisers to learn everything about you so they can tell you what you want.  It allows you to access information instantly making school basically worthless since everyone already “knows” everything. Titus can’t imagine a better life.

When Titus meets Violet on the Moon he is instantly attracted to her.  Violet is very different from all the other girls he knows who only spend their time watching out for the hourly hair style trends and following the story of their favorite show Oh, Wow, Thing. Violet is great, but their relationship doesn’t get off to a good start. At a dance club on the Moon, Titus, Violet, and many others’ Feeds are hacked. They end up spending several days in the hospital for repairs. What Titus doesn’t find out until much later is, Violet’s feed was seriously damaged and most likely can’t be repaired.

M.T. Anderson paints a grim picture of what can happen if a society relies completely on technology. The ease and convenience of instant knowledge from the Feed is to us like searching Google is to our Grandparents.  While advertisers constantly bombard people with special offers and great deals in the book, we are rarely without banner ads on the websites we visit. The Feed monitors the purchases of people to better recommend future products.  Amazon and Facebook do the same thing in order to recommend things to us. We continually want better and faster. Soon we’ll be so reliant that we won’t be able to do without. Just think.  Regular cell phones that don’t require data plans are already becoming harder and harder to find.  Soon, even great granny who only needs a cell phone for emergencies will be required to pay $30 for a Smart Phone data plan she’ll never use.

FEED is a book not only about the dangers of complete reliance on technology.  It also covers topics such as peer pressure and first love.  Titus faces many of the same issues teens of today face, even though he lives in a world where you can take a vacation on the Moon.

I’ve read this book three times. Twice in print and once I listened to the audio version. The audio book is fantastic because it provides the reader with a taste of the Feed. Scattered throughout the book you get to hear advertisements and special news reports about issues the government is facing during the course of this story.

Sexual Content= None 

Language Content= Quite a bit

Violence Content= None

BUMPED by Megan McCafferty-REVIEW

"Picture a world where a virus has rendered everyone over the age of 18 infertile. What are married couples supposed to do if they want children? That’s right! Hire a surrogate.


In this world there are Professional Surrogates who enter into strict contracts with couples to provide them a baby. These surrogates are required to Bump in order to get pregnant – it’s strictly business. The boy and girl will probably be total strangers and most likely never see each other again after the pregnancy test shows a postive result. These surrogates are chosen strictly for their genetic and physical traits.

Some girls are Amatuer Surrogates – not quite good enough to make it Pro. They Bump with anyone they want and then hope to find a couple willing to purchase the offspring.

Melody and Harmony are identical twins who were separated at birth. At 16, they were able to look into their birth records and found each other.

Melody, a Pro Surrogate, was less than thrilled to find there was someone in the world exactly like her. It hurts her chances in business. Now she can’t be promoted by her agent as unique.

Harmony couldn’t be happier to have found Melony. As someone who is neither Amatuer nor Pro, she looks forward to preaching to Melony about God and hopefully prevent her from living a life of a sinning surrogate.

Megan McCafferty does an excellent job building this futuristic dystopian world. The word play alone is enjoyable. The media bombards these young tweens and teens with advertisements, clothing, and music encouraging drug use in order to help the teens relax. Condoms have been outlawed and the term baby is considered a nasty word because it encourages affection for the Bump.

Harmony and Melony’s lives are turned upside down after a case of mistaken identity leads them both down paths they never imagined.

When you get to the last page, you’ll ask yourself, “How long do I have to wait for the sequel?”