New York Times bestseller * Six starred reviews
At once provocative, terrifying, and darkly subversive, Dread Nation is Justina Ireland's stunning vision of an America both foreign and familiar--a country on the brink, at the explosive crossroads where race, humanity, and survival meet.
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania--derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.
In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.
But there are also opportunities--and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society's expectations.
But that's not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn't pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose.
But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies.
And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.
Please note that this book has deckle edges (the edges of the paper are purposely rough).
--Brightly
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
Published: 04/03/2018
ISBN: 9780062570604
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.70w x 1.70d
Review Citations: Booklist 11/15/2017 pg. 51
Publishers Weekly 01/29/2018
School Library Journal 02/01/2018 pg. 102
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2018 pg. 157
Shelf Awareness 04/13/2018
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2018 - Book Of Special Distinction
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2018 pg. 132
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2018 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 197249 / Dread Nation
Reading Level: 6 /
Interest Level: Upper Grade /
Point Value: 17