Norwell High School Library



The Worst is Yet to Come: a Dystopian Booklist*

Norwell High School Library Media Center

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Dystopia: 1. a society characterized by human misery, squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding; 2. an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be

Anthony, Joelle. Restoring Harmony - Ten years after the Great Collapse of 2031, Molly McClure leaves the safety of her family's island home to travel through a dangerous and desolate wasteland to find her grandparents and persuade them to return with her to Canada.

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker - In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship or rescue the girl.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451 - Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do.... (Summary description from )

Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange - Burgess' classic satire of the present inhumanity of man to man presents a futuristic culture where teenagers rule with violence.

Card, Orson Scott. Pathfinder - Thirteen-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a dangerous quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games - In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Catching Fire - By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

Mockingjay - Katniss Everdeen, having survived the Hunger Games twice, learns she and her family and friends are in danger because the Capitol holds her responsible for the unrest and races against time to protect those she cares about and the people of District 12.

Condie, Ally. Matched - Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her, so when Xander appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate--until Ky Markham's face appears for an instant before the screen fades to black.

Dashner, James. Maze Runner - Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

Scorch Trials - Thomas and the Gladers, having solved the Maze, plan on returning to their lives, but instead find the earth a wasteland with Cranks roaming the desert in search of their next meal and they are faced with the challenge of crossing the Scorch in two weeks in order to arrive at a safe haven

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron - To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.

Sapphique - After his escape from the sentient prison, Incarceron, Finn finds that the Realm is not at all what he expected, and he does not know whether he is to be its king, how to free his imprisoned friends, or how to stop Incarceron's quest to be free of its own nature.

Grant, Michael. Gone – When everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears from a California town, a battle erupts between the remaining residents and the students from a local school, as well as those who have "The Power" and those who do not.

Hunger – Conditions worsen for the remaining young residents of a small California coastal town isolated by supernatural events when their food supplies dwindle and the Darkness underground awakens.

Plague - Conditions worsen for the remaining young residents of a small California coastal town isolated by supernatural events when their food supplies dwindle and the Darkness underground awakens.

Jordan, Hillary. When She Woke - Hannah Payne, sentenced to being dyed a stigmatizing red for the crime of having an abortion, must learn to adjust to her new circumstances in a United States where her married lover, Aidan Dale, is Secretary of Faith.

Karp, Jesse. Those That Wake - Laura and Mal investigate why their families and friends no longer remember them in a dystopian New York City where extreme security measures have been taken following a terrorist attack and citizens rely on technology for comfort.

Landon, Kristen. The Limit - When his family exceeds its legal debt limit, thirteen-year-old Matt is sent to the Federal Debt Rehabilitation Agency workhouse, where he discovers illicit activities are being carried out using the children who have been placed there.

Mariz, Rae. The Unidentified - In a futuristic school set in a shopping mall where video game-playing students are observed and used by corporate sponsors for market research, Katey "Kid" Dade struggles to figure out where she fits in and whether she even wants to.

Mulligan, Andy. Trash - Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.

Oliver, Lauren. Delirium – Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until 95 days before her 18th birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Orwell, George. 1984 - Depicts life in a totalitarian regime in the year of 1984. Originally published in 1949.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It - Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

The Dead and the Gone - After a meteor hits the moon and sets off a series of horrific climate changes, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales must take care of his sisters alone in the chaos of New York City.

This World We Live In - When the moon's gravitational pull increases, causing massive natural disasters on Earth, Miranda and her family struggle to survive in a world without cities or sunlight, and wonder if anyone else is still alive.

Roth, Veronica. Divergent - In a future Chicago, Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she does not fit into any one group.

Shusterman, Neil. Unwind - In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to survive until they turn eighteen.

Treggiari, Jo. Ashes, Ashes - In a future Manhattan devastated by environmental catastrophes and epidemics, Lucy survives alone until vicious hounds hunt her and force her to join Aidan, but soon they learn that she is the target of the Sweepers.

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan - In an alternate 1914 Europe, Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from forces who are attempting to take over the globe with mechanical machinery, forms an alliance with Deryn, who is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Behemoth - Continues the story of Austrian Prince Alek who, in an alternate 1914 Europe, eludes the Germans by traveling in the Leviathan to Constantinople, where he faces a whole new kind of genetically-engineered warships.

Weyn, Suzanne. Empty - When oil supplies run out and global warming leads to devastating storms, classmates Tom, Niki, Gwen, Hector, and Brock realize that the world as they know it is ending and lead the way to a more environmentally-friendly society.

Young, Moira. Blood Red Road -In a distant future, Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter.

*Summary descriptions from Norwell’s Destiny online catalog unless noted otherwise.

List updated by Mrs. Pratt, Norwell High School Library/Media Center, October, 2011

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