Dystopian Books for Middle Grade (4th-6th) and Young Adult Readers

How books were chosen.

This page is a work in progress.

	2010 Releases
Ages 9 and up	Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner "Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime. Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won't be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day. When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she has left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of  a thief can understand the museum's strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving. Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum-plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him." Jacket cover excerpt, Delacorte Press, Random House, 2010
Ages 12 and up	Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, 442 pages, book 1 "Incarceron is a prison unlike any other: Its inmates live not only in cells, but also in metal forests, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness. The prison has been sealed for centuries, and only one man, legend says, has ever escaped. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, can't remember his childhood and believes he came from Outside Incarceron. He's going to escape, even though most inmates don't believe that Outside even exists. And then Finn finds a crystal key and through it, a girl named Claudia. Claudia claims to live Outside-her father is the Warden of Incarceron and she’s doomed to an arranged marriage. If she helps Finn escape, she will need his help in return. But the don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost far more than they know." Jacket cover excerpt, Dial books, first published in the U.S. in 2010
Ages 9 and up	Dark Life by Kat Falls, (1st of a series) 297 pages “Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea, helping his family farm the ocean floor. But when outlaws attack his homestead, Ty finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life…secrets that threaten to destroy everything.” Jacket cover excerpt, Scholastic, 2010