This week's reading involved three science fiction books. All three are set in the future and deal with medical procedures and the ethics that go along with those procedures.
In Unwind by Neal Shusterman, abortions have been outlawed after the Heartland war that pitted pro-lifers and pro-choicers against each other. A treaty was made that allows for parents to unwind their children after the age of 13 up unto the age of 18. Medical advances have increased to allow entire body part transplants such as a new limb, new lungs, new brain. Now the population can buy new hearts instead of living with an old one. Three children have been selected to be unwound but each for different reasons. Connor, has been a troubled teen with poor grades and a short temper. His parents have signed the papers but Connor finds out and runs away. Risa has been a ward of the state and now due to budget cuts has been sent to a harvest camp on a bus. Lev (Levi) is a tithe which means he has always known that his life, his body is his parents way of giving 10% to the church, community I suppose. They meet all together, all of Connor's fault, on the highway as Connor is trying to run-away from the juvey-cops. He causes a massive pile-up and a huge distraction for the other two to run. They continue running together for some time only to get separated and then reunited and then separated again.
In The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson, Jenna has been in a coma for over a year and has just woken up. She remembers very little about her life before the accident. She doesn't remember the accident. Her mother keeps her away from other people but finally agrees to allow Jenna to attend a small school with other seemingly freaks. Jenna learns more about these other students and even learns some about herself and her parents. Her father is a well known medical doctor that has invented bio-gel. Bio-gel can be used to regenerate body parts. Each person is allowed 100 points and depending on the procedure that is performed, points are taken away. Having an entire leg or arm can cost lots of points as so can brains and other organs. Jenna starts to slowly remember bits of her life, parts that she shouldn't remember. She learns that her parents have broken many medical laws in relation to bio-gel.
In Bumped by Megan McCafferty, a virus has spread that makes men and women infertile over the age of 18. Teens are now paid by couples who can no longer have their own children to conceive and carry a child for them. Teens are rated by looks, IQ, activities that belong to and are paid as such. Some teens can go Pro and have a representative to find a match to "bump" with. Teen girls are proud of their baby bumps so much that they even buy fake bumps to be in the in-crowd. Two twin girls that were separated at birth have found each other and meet. They were raised very differently. Melody is now a pro but has yet to be matched with anyone. She wishes that her friend Zen could be her match but he is too short for the couple that has paid her to bump. Harmony was raised on the farm on Goodside, a church community that believes still in marriage before bumping. Many girls get married at the age of 13. Harmony was set to marry but then was told to wait. Now she is 17, one day into marriage, and has run away to find her sister. A wonderful set up for a switch in identities.
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