Homeschooling the Teen Years - Friday Fun: The Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie

A week of reading through YA dystopian fiction finally paid off with a find I'm happy to pass on to my youngest two (ages 12 and 14) to read.

I put off reading Ally Condie's trilogy at first, because I was pretty sure I was going to hate it.  A quick glance at the back of the book makes it very clear it's a teen romance in a dystopian setting, and despite the fact that I adored several teen romances when I was the girls' age (L'Engle's A Moon by Night comes to mind)…

… I was hoping for more discussion stirring dystopia than romance to kick off a study into the genre.

Not to mention that this series has some of the worst book trailers I have ever seen.

But the books kept coming up in my "suggested for you" lists, and I like the cover art - it's visually appealing, and the online library had a copy of the audio book available, so it's not like it was going to cost me anything to read/listen to it.  And, I'm so glad I did.  While there is a love triangle, and a bit of kissing here and there (even Harry Potter has that), there are also plenty of dystopian themes to delve into, as well as a good dose of poetry (the reader should be fairly familiar with poems by Dylan Thomas and Alfred, Lord Tennyson by the end of the trilogy), and art...

"Chasm of the Colorado" by Thomas Moran; (c) Arlene Braithwaite

… and even a bit of botany.  Did you know that the sago lily bulbs are edible (I'm sure you do if you live in Utah, like the author)?

The book series site has instructions for folding a paper lily (or some kind of paper flower) inspired by events in the books, as well as poetry writing tips, bits of trivia, a few games, and party planning ideas.  I spent far too long today failing miserably at trying to fold a flower, while the girls lost themselves into the pages of the first book in the series.

I can't wait for them to catch up, so they can try their hands at folding the flowers too (hopefully with more success, so they can show me what I'm doing wrong).

It's great to be a homeschooler.