Meet our March Children’s Book of the Month, The List by Patricia Forde!
The city of Ark is the last safe place on Earth. To make sure humans avoid the mistakes of their past and are able to survive, everyone in Ark must speak List, a language of only 500 words. Everyone, that is, except Letta. As apprentice to the Wordsmith, Letta can read all the words that have ever existed. Words like freedom, music, and even pineapple tell her about a world she’s never known.
One day her master disappears and the leaders of Ark tell Letta she is the new Wordsmith and must shorten List to fewer and fewer words. When Letta meets a mysterious boy who somehow knows all the words that have been banned, she’s faced with a dangerous choice: sit idly by and watch language slowly slip away or follow a stranger on a path to freedom … or banishment.
What Our Readers Thought:
If you’re looking for a unique read the search is over!
Amber, Colonnades QBD
The List is a fascinating dystopian novel based in a eco-friendly city known as ‘Ark’.
Ark is all that is left of the world, mankind is near extinction.
The cities leader and creator, Noa believes words are evil and controls the citizens with language but by keeping people wordless he also keeps them imprisoned.
Fans of The Giver, By Lois Lowry will enjoy this adventurous novel.
A captivating YA novel reminiscent of Orwell’s “1984”. In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic world. It is beautifully written.
Trish, Bondi QBD
Don’t miss the sequel: The Last Word. Available now.
