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The Chosen One
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Product Description
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.
But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.
Thirteen year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father’s three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. But she has started to wonder if her life could be different. Determined to follow her heart, Kyra secretly visits the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books. At night, she meets with a boy, one she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her own uncle, a 60-year-old man who already has six wives. Though she faces danger and is afraid she will lose her family, Kyra must make a desperate choice before her future is decided by the sect.
"This is a heart pounder, and readers will be held, especially as the danger escalates. Williams' portrayals of the family are sharp, but what's most interesting about this book is how the yearnings and fears of a character so far from what most YAs know will still seem familiar and close."—Ilene Cooper, Booklist
"This book will shock and anger you, and most importantly, freak you out because it is based on a real-life story. The book quickly moves from peaceful moments on the compound to fast-paced action as Kyra learns about the very dark side of The Chosen Ones. This book is thought provoking and compelling and you will be frantically flipping the pages until you discover Kyra's fate."—Justine Magazine
“I believed the characters and found Kyra's inner struggles very authentic . . . Even secondary characters emerge as real as they engage with Kyra and each other. The conflicts are vivid and well delineated—and pretty scary and timely. But it also respects the close and loving connections that clearly draw the people of faith together. Writing about religion in books for teens is the final frontier and I'm glad she tackled the topic—and with a strong story that will get kids thinking and talking.”—Sylvia M. Vardell, Ph.D., Professor, School of Library & Information Studies, Texas Woman's University and author of Children’s Literature in Action: A Librarian’s Guide
“In powerful, understated prose, Williams writes a compelling view of a dark and disturbing world where the leader of a polygamous sect can simultaneously preach good and practice evil. But its real power comes from seeing this walled-off world through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Kyra Carlson, who desperately wants to be good yet realizes that the demand for heavenly obedience is only a mask for earthly control. No one can get inside the head and heart of a 13-year-old girl better than Carol Lynch Williams, and I mean no one. Kyra is a complex and completely believable mix of loving daughter, devoted big sister, boy-smitten teenager, terrified bride-to-be (within weeks she will be given to her 60-year-old uncle as his seventh wife), and reluctant heroine who shows there is always hope. Knowing her is worth the whole trip.”—James S. Jacobs, Professor of Children's Literature, Brigham Young University and co-author of Children's Literature, Briefly
"In the Compound, in the belly of the Temple, God has revealed to the Prophet Child that 14 year-old Kyra is to wed her father’s older brother, Uncle Hyrum. She will be his seventh wife in the Lord. This leads to rebellion as Kyra loves Joshua. What is marriage without love or trust? The Chosen One is a modern day ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set in the religious compound controlled by the Prophet Child. Choices have to be made, but at what sacrifice? A compelling novel filled with family loyalty, love, tragedy, drama and adventure."—Terry Young, West Jefferson High School, Harvey, Louisiana
“A chilling and thought-provoking story about what happens when religion turns 'evil' and the 'good' is in those who try to escape it. This is Kyra's story. Let her into your heart. You will never forget her."—Pat Scales, Director of Library Services, the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities; and President, Association for Library Service to Children
"Carol Lynch Williams’ chilling novel of life in a polygamous sect is both harrowing in its unsparing realism and hopeful in its reaffirmation of the power that books and reading have to change and redeem lives at risk. An important book, sure to provoke spirited discussion."—Michael Cart, former president, Young Adult Library Services Association
“The Chosen One makes the heart race, the teeth grind, and the brow bead up in sweat. Carol Lynch Williams presents a first-person narrative that gallops just behind—or perhaps in advance of—contemporary headlines about the manipulation of the innocent. I could choose no other book or newspaper until I had finished the final page."—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and A Lion Among Men
“A powerful and heartbreaking novel of love and hope. One girl's poignant journey as she struggles to find herself and, ultimately, the truth.”—Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Airhead
“The Chosen One is absolutely riveting and perfectly formed. I had planned to read just a few pages one evening before bed, and I ended up staying awake until four in the morning to finish it! It’s a wonderful book.”—Cynthia Kadohata, winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal for Kira-Kira
“In this extraordinary story, Carol Lynch William
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #49998 in Books
- Published on: 2009-05-12
- Released on: 2009-05-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 224 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312555115
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up–In this thriller, 13-year-old Kyra lives in an isolated polygamist cult. Life in the compound is as dry as the surrounding desert, more confining than the chain-link fence on its perimeter. But Kyra finds small freedoms despite the tightly controlled communal environment and is able to slip outside to wander the desert. There she chances upon a friendly book-mobile driver who opens the world of children's literature to her. Kyra even begins a flirtation with her classmate, Joshua, a dangerous sin for which they will both pay dearly. The brutal leader, Prophet Childs, has plans for Kyra and will brook no disobedience. He assigns her to be the seventh wife of her own 60-year-old uncle. Repelled, she resists. She and Joshua are badly beaten and she is told that other young people have been killed for taking a similarly defiant stand. Kyra's loving father is powerless to help her and counsels her to accept her fate, but she cannot. The story ends in a high-speed chase with the Prophet's goons gunning for her as she improbably races toward freedom in the blood-spattered book mobile. Has the friendly driver been killed on her account? Is anyone looking for him? What retribution will be taken on her family and what kind of a life lies ahead for her? These unsettling questions are not addressed, but these omissions do not diminish the relief of her successful escape. For a more layered examination of the internal as well as external struggles of a young teen coming of age in a polygamist community, see Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sister Wife (Orca, 2008).–Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
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From Booklist
Taking a story “ripped from the headlines,” Williams looks inside a polygamist cult and the dangers it poses for one girl. Kyra and her father, three mothers, and 20 siblings live in an isolated community under the thumb of a prophet, who controls every aspect of his apostles’ lives. The most shocking intrusion of all comes when the prophet decrees that Kyra is to become the wife of her 60-year-old uncle. A secret patron of a local mobile library, Kyra knows there’s a world away from the compound she might escape to, but first she pins her hopes on her father’s ability to change the prophet’s mind. Instead, her family is threatened, and the stakes for her refusal to marry are raised. The clandestine relationship Kyra is having with one of the compound’s teenage boys is a romance more convenient than convincing (everyone is carefully watched except this duo, it seems). Contrivances notwithstanding, this is a heart pounder, and readers will be held, especially as the danger escalates. Williams’ portrayals of the family are sharp, but what’s most interesting about this book is how the yearnings and fears of a character so far from what most YAs know will still seem familiar and close. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper
Review
"Fiction can offer emotional truth where other tools fail ….Williams, herself a Mormon, unveils life among the Chosen (a fictitious theocracy) with spare, evocative writing and an honest sense of character that helps bridge the rift between Kyra’s world and ours…. The cinematic drama of [her life…is a means to reach a quieter truth, revealing that moment in childhood when you recognize your thoughts as your own and discover forces in the world that your parents cannot — or will not — protect you from." --The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice)
"Williams strikes just the right balance between informative and cautionary in this gripping tale about a 13-year-old girl trapped in a polygamist cult….when she’s "chosen" to be the seventh wife of her brutish, 60-something uncle, Kyra’s desperation to be somewhere (or someone) else escalates ("God has given you to me, Kyra Leigh," her uncle tells her. "You will do what He says. What the Prophet says. What I say"). Is she brave enough to run away from the community that has sheltered her since birth? …Williams takes such care in crafting Kyra’ss internal struggles--and her hellacious story--that the ensuing drama rings true." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Intensely gripping and grippingly intense, the story begins with a gasp when Prophet Childs, the leader of a sect called The Chosen Ones, comes to visit the almost-14-year-old Kyra Leigh Carlson and her family to impart the "joyous news" that she's to become the seventh wife of her father's brother, a much older church apostle. Kyra, who lives with her father, three mothers and 21 brothers and sisters in a closely guarded, hyper-religious, polygamous compound, is horrified. The prohibited books she surreptitiously reads have opened her eyes to the wider world, and she has been hoping to marry a young sect member who's been secretly courting her. The forced marriage brings with it more than a whiff of child rape, though Williams unnecessarily pushes every button by also depicting the church hierarchy as murderers who use their religiosity to sadistically control and humiliate their parishioners. Nonetheless, Kyra's terrible dilemma-escaping her fate means betraying her family-is heartbreakingly real, and the final scenes are riveting and suspenseful.” --Kirkus Reviews
“…this is a heart pounder, and readers will be held, especially as the danger escalates. Williams’ portrayals of the family are sharp, but what’s most interesting about this book is how the yearnings and fears of a character so far from what most YAs know will still seem familiar and close.” --Booklist
“The Chosen One makes the heart race, the teeth grind, and the brow bead up in sweat. Carol Lynch Williams presents a first-person narrative that gallops just behind--or perhaps in advance of--contemporary headlines about the manipulation of the innocent. I could choose no other book or newspaper until I had finished the final page." --Gregory Maguire, the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked and A Lion Among Men
"A powerful and heartbreaking novel of love and hope. One girl's poignant journey as she struggles to find herself and, ultimately, the truth." --Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and Airhead
“The Chosen One is absolutely riveting and perfectly formed. I had planned to read just a few pages one evening before bed, and I ended up staying awake until four in the morning to finish it! It’s a wonderful book.” --Cynthia Kadohata, winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal for Kira-Kira
“In this extraordinary story, Carol Lynch Williams probes the deepest wells of the heart. Against the intertwining prism of faith and love she gives us Kyra, a young woman who meets head-on the power of both to simultaneously buoy and corrupt the human spirit. The Chosen One is brave, its plumb is true, it's a masterpiece." --Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath, Finalist for the 2008 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
"Carol Lynch Williams’ chilling novel of life in a polygamous sect is both harrowing in its unsparing realism and hopeful in its reaffirmation of the power that books and reading have to change and redeem lives at risk. An important book, sure to provoke spirited discussion." --Michael Cart, Booklist columnist and former president, Young Adult Library Services Association
“Powerful and unforgettable, The Chosen One will break your heart because its story is all too real.” --David Ebershoff, the New York Times bestselling author of The 19th Wife
“Truly thought provoking, heartfelt and just a plain old good read about a culture and religion that we know very little about these days except through the media.” --An Na, author of A Step From Heaven, winner of the 2002 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
“An unsettling and courageous story about one girl who sacrifices everything familiar in her search for freedom--physical freedom and, more importantly, freedom of the heart and mind. Though the book is chilling from page one, Carol Lynch Williams' economic and poetic use of language makes this potentially sensational story somehow beautiful, compassionate, and full of hope in the midst of tremendous loss. This is not a black and white exposé of cults, but a complex exploration of the ties that bind us to places and people that hurt us, the wrenching decisions we sometimes must make in order to survive, and the saving power of the truth, no matter how difficult it may be to bear.” --Sara Zarr, author of the 2007 National Book Award Finalist Story of a Girl
“A timely story . . . A poetic, penetrating, heart-wrenching, and ultimately inspiring read.” --Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Eternal
“Skilled writing, a narrator you root for, and [a] compelling glimpse into a secret world.” --Deb Caletti, author of the National Book Award finalist Honey, Baby, Sweetheart
“An absolute page-turner.” --Elizabeth Bird, A Fuse #8 Production (School Library Journal blog)
“Imagine Anna Quindlen or Sue Miller turning her attention to writing a young adult novel. . . . Be forewarned: This book is a compulsive read.” --Audrey Couloumbis, author of the Newbery Honor Book Getting Near to Baby
“No doubt about it, THE CHOSEN ONE is one of the best books of the year! I couldn't put it down. Carol Lynch Williams grabs you with her literary talents and never lets you go. Kyra still haunts me. I'll be talking about this book in workshops all year long.” --M. Jerry Weis, Distinguished Service Professor, New Jersey City University, and past president of ALAN
“Kyra reminds me of my high school classmate in Utah who married her sister’s husband and descended into a netherworld of poverty, abuse, and humiliation. Carol Lynch Williams’ remarkable story of Kyra’s fight to free herself from a culture that degrades and dehumanizes women is really a story of the triumph of the human spirit. This book matters!” --Sandra Dallas, author of Prayers for Sale
Customer Reviews
Amazing...realistic tale and strong characterization
I have had a mini-facination with pologymst cults and I thought it was very interesting that there was a young adult novel written about it. I read these stories and am amazed time and time again by how strong these women have to be to leave their families, their religion, their entire lives, to start out with nothing. This story was very similar to the autobiographical stories that I have read, and if possible, it was every bit as heartwrenching. Kyra, is an almost 13 year old, living with her father and her mother (father's third wife) and an large assortment of brothers and sisters. She has recently begun a 'secret' flirtation with a boy on the compound who has told Kyra that he wants to 'chose' her to be his wife, his only wife. The two have heard stories, and seen what happens to those who don't follow 'God's' rules...really the so called Prophet's rules. Kyra's other 'sin'? She secretly meets Patrick, the mobile library driver each week to sneak a book to read. Then one day the prophet comes to vist, something he hasn't ever done before, and announces to the family that he has had a vision from God. God's revelation has told him that Kyra is to be married to Brother Hyram. Brother Hyram happens to be Kyra's sixty year old uncle. Kyra is to be Hyram's seventh wife. Aghast, Kyra vows not to let this happen. Unfortunately the Chosen Ones will stop at nothing to make sure the marriage goes through. In the past, they haven't been above murder to make sure things go their way. What happens to Kyra and those who love her is heartbreaking. Carol Lynch Williams does a standout job of making Kyra's family empathetic...it is clear Kyra's father and all three of his wives care deeply for her. They take some risks for her, but they never quite go far enough. This also rang painfully realistic to me. The story is sad, I am a bleeding heart and I did tear up several times. I read this book in a short couple of hours. I am passing this book on to my 13 year old stepdaughter in hopes that she will take to heart Kyra's strength. A must read for both adults and teens.
4.5/5 stars - don't miss this one!
The story The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams was inspired by a true story told by a girl who escaped from a Polygamist compound. While this book is a work of fiction I fear the story itself rings true to much of what goes on in this type of cult.
In this story thirteen year old Kyra has one father, three mothers and some twenty brothers and sisters with two more on the way. Books are banned in the remote compound where she lives, as books are said to be the work of Satan. Kyra sneaks off to the Mobile Library on wheels where she learns she can borrow books. She only takes (1) book to start so that she will be able to hide it from everyone. Kyra also has been sneaking off to meet Joshua a boy she has come to adore, and the two are planning for a future together despite the risk of meeting in secret. One day everything changes.
Kyra and her family learn that the "Prophet" will be visiting. Everyone suspects that this means her father will be chosen as an Apostle, but that is not what happens. The Prophet tells them he has had a vision and that Kyra has been chosen to be the "seventh" wife of her 60 year old uncle in just four weeks!
Does Kyra try to run off with the boy she loves, even though she may never see her family again? What happens to her and her family if she gets caught?
This story brings up important moral questions that we seem to be hearing about more and more. It seems to me that this one would make an excellent book for classroom discussion at the high school level as the story contains various important themes: personal freedom, religious cults, and societies norms.
The Chosen One was an excellent audio book that I enjoyed a lot. I did find the ending a bit disappointing but I would still recommend this book for both young adults and adults alike.
A BOX WITH A PRIZE INSIDE
From the back of the box:
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters. That is, without questioning them much - if you don't count her secret visits to the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.
But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle - who already has six wives - Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.
When I received this box in the mail with the five CDs inside, I thought if nothing else, it would help pass some windshield time, while I was behind the wheel in traffic. However, as the story of Kyra, the little girl growing up in a polygamist family unfolded, I found myself more and more interested in finding out what would happen next.
***
This is a story written for young adults, but I enjoyed it as a not-so-young adult and plan to pass it on to a few younger people that I know. When the story was finished, I found myself wanting to know more, wanting the story to continue, and I just sat there in my car, in my driveway, listening to the dead silence of the completed CD. Then an interview started between the author, Carol Lynch Williams and Dr. Michael Tunnell. I listened to the whole interview there in my driveway, which I found very interesting as well.
There are probably going to be a number of parents and teachers who think that the subject matters presented in this book are too mature for young adults. I happen to disagree with these parents and agree with the author, Carol Lynch Williams, when she said in her interview that we "shouldn't pull any punches with older kids." They happen to be a lot smarter than we think, anyway. Also, there is no better way to get a kid to read than to give them material to read that covers things, ideas, places, and characters that are new, exciting, scary, and contain places that they've never seen or heard of, or like in this case...lifestyles that are so odd, controversial, and precarious. Isn't that what we adults like to read, too?
To make the whole story even better...this audio version is read by Jenna Lamia, who does an excellent job; I mean she gets Kyra's voice and personality spot on!
Highly recommended as a young adult novel.
