Masterminds

Masterminds

Juvenile fiction
"...Project Osiris was never abandoned. Felix Hammerstrom
changed his name and went underground and did it in a place so far off
the grid that no one would ever find out about it.
Project Osiris was us."
Imagine what it would be like to find out, at the age of
thirteen, that your comfortable life is a total lie. You are part of
a highly unethical experiment. All the adults in your life are in on
it...even the one you considered your father. That is the chilling
premise expertly explored in Gordon Korman's Masterminds.
Life is just about perfect in Serenity (population 185). A
plastic cone factory keeps all adults gainfully employed. Hunger and
homelessness only happen in other parts of the world. Each house has
its swimming pool and tree house.
One day Eli, son of the town's mayor and school principal, goes
outside the town limits with his best friend, Randy. Suddenly he's
violently ill. When he gets out of the health center after a couple
of days of observation he learns that Randy is being sent away to help
care for grandparents in the outside world.
Randy, however, has left Eli a covert, carefully hidden
message. He's being sent to a boarding school and not allowed to get
in touch with Eli. There is something really messed up in the town.
It involves a group of kids like Eli who are somehow special.
Masterminds, told in the voices of Eli and four of his
classmates, is a suspenseful coming of age narrative. Fans of
dystopia will find it nearly impossible to put down.
On a personal note, Real Foods Challenge people are volunteering to
build relationships with local farmers. Curren, Sarah, and I helped
at the Daily Bread table at the farmers market. It was lots of fun.
I saw scads of friends. And I got a free loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.
A great big shout out goes out to the awesome people selling local,
ethically sourced food at farmers markets around the world.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod