The Chosen One

by Carol Lynch Williams

Summary: Kyra is part of The Chosen Ones, a tightly knit religious community on the outskirts of a desert town. The community practices polygamy, the practice of one man having several wives. The community is so closed off from the rest of society that they don't feel bound by the laws that we are accustomed to. The Chosen Ones feel that young girls of twelve or thirteen are ready to be married, often to men much older than themselves. They don't allow any reading unless it's the Bible. Kyra, thirteen, is a sweet girl who has broken rules and discovered that withing walking distance from her compound, a man with a library bookmobile drives by every Wednesday. She falls in love with reading. She falls in love with a young man from her group. Then she finds out that the group's leaders want her to marry her uncle, who is in his sixties. If she tries to leave, they will kill her. If she runs, she will die in the desert. How can Kyra escape this terrible fate?

My thoughts: The Chosen One is one of my favorite books this year. Guys, this one's not just for girls, even though it has a girl on the cover. (Just trust me...) The suspense is unbelievable--and the lengths the leaders go to in order to maintain control over Kyra is horrifying. Even more horrifying is knowing that this type of thing really does happen in our world today, and that young people are actually living this existence.