The Unwanteds (Unwanteds, The) Paperback – July 10, 2012

At first, it seems like this is just another allegory about a society that gets rid of the weak and infirm. (Like The Giver, The Lottery, etc.). In Quill, the elderly are removed from society and at a certain age (between 10-16), kids are divided into Wanteds, Necessaries, and Unwanteds. Wanteds are strong and intelligent and invested in. They go to Wanted University to learn military skills. Necessaries are kept around for roles that are necessary (like burials) but not roles Wanteds play. Unwanteds are dumped into a lake of boiling oil.Except they aren’t. The Quillians think they are, and then they are actually dumped into a magical world that values art and creativity. It’s like Hogwarts for magical artists, and it’s all concealed from Quill. Students “major” in magical art, magical theater, or magical drawing. This is all very fun, and those majors actually translate to fighting skills should this magical world ever be attacked by Quill. For instance, you can put an enemy to sleep with a boring soliloquy. You can paint a door to another place, and step through it. You can splatter paint fight.At the end of Book one, Quill and Artime (the magical world) do come to a head. The military leader and high priest of Quill - Justine - discovers that her brother Marcus had been managing this magical world rather than disposing of Unwanteds and attacks. Predictably, Artime prevails.There are a few things I liked about this book as a parent:1- It’s interesting and my 9-year-old loved it. I got books 2-7 from the library and he read them all!2- The central conflict is good and evil, but it’s a little more interesting. It’s creativity vs. brute strength.3- The central Unwanted character -Alex- works to try to reconcile with this twin brother Aaron, who is a Wanted. Airtime is not looking for a fight, but for healing.4- While there is war, this is not gruesome. Most of Artime fighting incapacitates Quillians but doesn’t kill. They make a point of being able to win rather than trying to do maximum harm.5- Marcus, the grown up in Artime, is a true hero. He has saved all of these kids, and worked to build a place with values he believes in - even when it comes at a cost.6- The relationships between the kids in Artime seem real, and they value loyalty, forgiveness, and trust. For the most part, they are positive relationships. And when a kid reads a seven book series, I think they learn from the relationships in the book!I recommend this for 8-12 year olds!

Enjoyed reading this book. Very creative story line with action, emotional growth and courage displayed by many characters.Fun little world this author created and seems to be unlimited on where she can take this story.I’m over 30 and found this enjoyable and think my teenage self would enjoy this just as much. My 12 year old nephew started reading this over our reunion that he forgot his book. He wanted to keep reading this when he left so I think many ages will enjoy.The cover says “Hunger Games meets Harry Potter” I felt more like “Harry Potter meets The Giver”.

The Unwanteds is a great fantasy book for kids ages 8-12. It is a book about a magical land called Artime, and a not so magical place called Quill. In this book review, I will show you how much I loved this book and how well written it is.Quill is a land where there motto is, “Quill prevails when the strong survive”. And how they keep their land “strong” is every year, all the thirteen year olds are separated into three groups, The Wanteds, The Necessaries, And the Unwanteds. The Necessaries and Wanteds are kept and sent to the wanted university, while the Unwanteds are sent away to be killed. 4 Teens in particular were sent to that death camp. They were all creative, and in Quill, being creative is a death sentence. Just before the teens are executed they are teleported into a magical land called Artime. Artime was a magical place where being creative was allowed, and it was also considered a weapon. The man who saved them was a man named Mr. Today. For many years, he had rescued the Unwanteds and taken them to the land of Artime where they could be safe. And not only be safe, To train how to use their creativity as a weapon. But as Mr Today grows old, it makes it harder for him to hide Artime, which happens to be right outside of the walls of Quill. And as the four train for their magical warrior training, one of them came close to exposing the magical land to Quill. So the four must train quickly before Quill exposes the land and tries to conquer it.This book was amazing and I think other people should read this book so they can learn more about the magical land. I rate this book 5/5 stars. This book was amazing and I recommend many people read it. This is a definite need to read book.Written by Keean, 7th grader