Fall 2021: Wild Readers Group 5 discussion

Dread Nation: Rise Up, written by New York Times Bestseller author Justina Ireland, presents a fictional twist on the history of the United States. In the midst of the Civil War a life changing event occurs where the dead become undead, walking the streets attacking the living and building a mass enemy. The main character Jane McKeene, who I loved, is a strong and brave young woman who was placed in a government school where children of color go in order to be trained as soldiers against the undead. Jane’s goal is to graduate and return to her home town, but in this enticing book everyone has their secrets including the government. Jane forms an unlikely friendship and bond with one of her classmates, Katherine and they find themselves in a frightening situation. Throughout the book I loved getting to read about a girl who was her own hero, reading through the perspective of Jane she was self-reliant and chose to think for herself. Although she was still young she was not naive and always wanted answers. As the reader you go along her journey of not always following the rules, in many ways selfish and not one to back down from speaking up for herself. As America tries to find a solution to a horrifying nightmare, I found it interesting to see how Ireland fictionalized how people would respond to such a fatal disaster. In this time period slaves were just being freed, however, those in charge would use twist the laws and find new ways to impede their flawed superiority over people of color. Although, I am not one to choose a book with zombies I do find this time period interesting and would recommend this book to others for the courageous characters.