The Unwanteds
Who read The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann? For those who didn’t read it, here’s a peek at the cover.
Synopsis: When thirteen-year-old Alex is separated from his twin brother Aaron and is deemed Unwanted, he discovers a stunning secret at the destination he was expected to be eliminated.
We’ve got lots to discuss so let’s get this conversation started!
At first I wondered if this book was going to be a bit dark for my liking. But I was interested in the author’s motivation to write it. Lisa McMann was inspired to write The Unwanteds after she found out that the arts programs would be cancelled at her children’s school. So the power of creative arts is a huge theme in this book. I like how children are taught to use their creativity to do magic in Airtimé. Neat concept!
1. How did you feel about the bond between Alex and Aaron?
2. What was your impression of Ms. Octavia? How would you react if Ms. Octavia was your art teacher? If anyone wants to draw a picture of their version of Ms, Octavia, or any other character from the book, I would love to see it!
3. What was your overall impression of the book? How many stars would you rate it?
Looking forward to your feedback!
-Kim, owlblog@owlkids.com
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I didn’t get a chance to read this one…. it sounds cool, though!
1) I felt like Alex and Aaron had a pretty close bond, except they had surprisingly different views on the government of Quill, their dystopian society. I think that Alex valued their relationship more than Aaron did, which becomes clearer later in the book.
2) I thought that Ms. Octavia was an interesting and motivating teacher. She is an “octogator”, or an octopus-alligator hybrid (this reminded me of an episode of Modern Family when the movie “Croctopus” is about an octopus/crocodile cross-breed :P) If Ms. Octavia were my art teacher, I would be a bit weirded out by the whole “not actually human” bit, but I think she would be a great teacher with a lot of help and criticism to give out.
3) Overall, I actually was kind of disappointed with this book, and found it bore a lot of similarities to the Harry Potter series. There’s the whole “magical school for super-talented kids” thing, and Mr. Today seemed like an altered version of Dumbledore. I also thought that the whole “using art supplies as magic” part was kind of random and not that believable. I think that I would have liked this book a lot more if I’d read it 4 or 5 years ago, since I found it was aimed at the 8-11 age group. I’d probably give it 2 stars out of 5.
Overall, the main message of this book was great, even though the writing and plotline weren’t that advanced or original. I can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks of it!
Great answers Laura. There’s no doubt about it that Ms. Octavia was an interesting character and I agree that it would be tough to get used to a teacher who’s an octogator. But it would be fun to see her multi-task with all of those arms! So you gave this 2 out of 5 stars so does that mean you would pass on reading the second book when it’s released?
Probably not… I sort of found it to be predictable, and I’m not really pining to see what happens next. Not my type of book, but I’m sure lots of other people liked it!
i really wanted to read it because it said its like the hunger games but i would relly like to read diviligance
I agree with everything that Laura said, except I’m only 12, so I liked it and read it a few years ago. Ps: I love modern family. Funniest thing ever!
I really want to read this! You should read and do a review on “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” by Kate DiCamillo. It’s my favorite book!
Gack! I just realized that the blog drawing at the top changed! Kim, will you eventually get a cartoon of yourself like Craig had?
Since the new name is OWL’s blog we decided to go with the retro OWL! How do you like it?