Buzz about a new social networking site, Need, is sweeping through the halls of Nottawa High School. Tell the site what you need and it will grant your request in exchange for a small task or favor. Need requests are piling up , but Kayley knows there's no way that Need can fill her request - a kidney for her sick brother. But as more and more students have their requests fulfilled, Kayley decides to give Need a try. It couldn't hurt, right? Wrong. The tasks required by Need in order to "earn" request fulfillment are becoming more severe and more dangerous all the time and now Kayley has thrown herself right into the middle of the danger.
Why It's Worth Reading:
I picked this book up originally for the sole reason that the author wrote The Testing series, which I really enjoyed and which has been really popular with students. I didn't know much about Need at all, so reading this book was such a pleasant surprise. At the surface, this was a fast-paced, suspenseful novel with interesting characters and a nice whodunnit twist at the end. What I really liked about it most was some of the underlying questions that it raises about the power that social media can wield over people when it is used without thought or consideration. Why is it ok for us to think we can do things that are wrong as long as no one knows it who did those things? Why does the anonymity of an online presence make is seem ok for us to act outside of our normal character? Can these factors ever be powerful in a positive way or are they only ever destructive? This book is a page-turner, but will also make you think about some big issues in our world. Grab a copy for winter break!
Book Details:
ISBN: 9780544416697
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: November 3, 2015
Source: Publisher e-galley, then LIBRES
Do We Own a Copy?: My LIBRES copy has been added, and several more are on order.