The Knife of Never Letting Go

Ness, P. (2008).   The knife of never letting go.  Boston, MA:  Candlewick Press

 This story takes place in a planet that is referred to as “the new world.”  Todd lives in a town Prentisstown with his adoptive parent Ben and Cillian.  He is the last boy and becomes a man when he turns 13.  There are no women in the town because they were killed off by Spackle.  Then Spackle infected everyone with the noise germ.  It is a germ that allows all humans and animals to mentally communicate.  Todd was told that noise killed off all the women.  One day, Todd and Manchee, his dog, were exploring the swamp and discover silence.  Ben tells him that he has to leave and gives him a journal and map that his mom left him before she died.  On his journey, he meets a girl name Viola.  He gets chased by Aaron and the Prentisstown Army.  He discovers that noise didn’t kill off women.  Women can hear the noise, but no one can hear their noise.   They endure lots of hardships and Aaron even captures Viola.  When Todd finds her, he has to choose between his dog and her.  He chooses and her and Manchee dies protecting him.  They continue their quest to Haven, so they can start a new life there.   Todd finally discovers that Aaron is after him because he want him to kill him.  They learn that Aaron’s death is suppose to be a blessing since Todd was the last boy.  It is suppose to bless the army and they could find their new Eden.  Viola ends up killing him, so that Aaron wouldn’t win and get what he wanted.   When they get to Haven, they realize that Mayor Prentiss has already taken the city and he rules it now.  The books ends with Todd surrendering to Prentiss because he wants to defend Viola.  I think this book is appropriate for children who are 12 and older because of the violence and language content.  It is filled with action, twists, and turns that will captivate their attention.  As a teacher, this is a good book to pair with Hunger Games.  Students can find the similarities in the theme of both stores on resisting authority and fighting for what is right and contrast the plots or characters.  This is a fantasy and science fiction book in which the authors places its characters in a secondary world.   This story deals with the theme of gender equality.  In the story men are superior to women and they formed a rebellion to kill all women.  Through-out the settlements that Todd and Viola visit, it is visible that men control the towns.   The sentence patterns in this story is unique.  Since Todd is from Prentisstown where education was shunned, the story has misspelled words, he uses local terms that make sense to him.  The character Todd is the protagonist of the story.  He is obsessed on being a man and cares about how other view him. He easily believes what has been told to him.  By the end of the book, he learns to make his own judgment and stand up for himself.