Young Adult Dystopia

Language Identification Organizer

Listen closely and check off each sentence or partial sentence as you hear it.

• The plots of young adult dystopia can be pretty amazing
• You get a vaccine for delirium which prevents you from falling in love
• that one was really scary because it seemed like something that could actually happen
• clones working in a field and, of course, a rebellion against the status quo
• Amanda Heidema, the librarian leading the discussion group, jumps in
• In fact, screwed up adults actually play a major role in a lot of young adult dystopian fiction
• Their parents impose curfews, and nobody lets them drive until they're 16
• that there's a lot of moral and ethical gray area out there
• As the brain develops, so does executive function skills, understanding argument
• they have all that and big emotional ideas like justice, fairness, loyalty and mortality
• The fact that it's fiction allows kids to flirt with those kinds of questions without really doing anything

Dystopian Fiction and the Adolescent Brain

As you listen, take notes in the left-hand column on characteristics of the dystopian fiction genre. In the center column, record any characteristics of the teenage brain you hear discussed in the story. In the right-hand column, speculate about how these characteristics might be connected. Why would someone with that developmental trait want to read about a dystopian future?

Fill-in-the-Blank Organizer

As you listen to the story, fill in the blank in each sentence below with the word or phrase that fits best.

• If you can't tell from the names, these books are all fiction.
• There's a drug lord, clones working in a field and, of course, a against the status quo.
• Everyone here agrees dystopia is super .
• He says these books don't always have happy endings, and they're all about .
• Dystopian novels, they have all that and big ideas like justice, fairness, loyalty and mortality.