Marked

Marked:
The House of Night
Book 1
by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
2007
St. Martin's Griffin
New York
ISBN: 0312360266Plot Summary: Zoey Redbird is a seemingly average high school girl, living in the suburbs of Tulsa. Happy at school, while unhappy at home, Zoey's life is suddenly and dramatically changed when she is "marked" by a vampyre Tracker. Though she lives in a world where vampyres are common and nearly impossible to avoid, Zoey herself is unprepared for what lies ahead of her.
Taken to the House of Night, a vampyre training and boarding school, Zoey's hopes of a smooth adjustment are dashed by her highly uncommon mark, its color and shape connoting a vampyre much more evolved and talented than Zoey (and many of the other students) believe her to be. The first of a four-part series, Marked follows Zoey's initial weeks of submersion in a new vampyre world: her budding friendships, her attraction to an older student, her troubles with the elite club The Dark Daughters, and her struggle to realize her new destiny.
Critical Evaluation:
Marked is an engaging and fast-paced story of a special girl's struggle to discover exactly where it is she belongs. Her confusion regarding her talents, her family, and her ambitions are rendered in a thoughtful and sensitive way, in turn encouraging the reader to both empathize with Zoey and look inwards in search of her own desires and potential places of belonging.
Zoey's story is told in a disarmingly confidential format--as she explains her recent upheavals and transformations, her voice enables strong feelings of solidarity to emerge between the character and the reader.
Reader's Annotation:
Marked invites the reader to follow the super-talented Zoey and her foray into the unknown world of vampires and goddess worship. Immerse yourself in a boarding school where vampire sociology, myths, and fencing are the curricula!
Author Information:
P.C. Cast and her daughter Kristin wrote the 4-novel series together. The senior Cast is a veteran writer of fantasy, the younger Cast is a budding writer with an affinity for teenage vernacular. P.C. Cast has won numerous awards for her Goddess Summoning and Partholon book series.
Genre:
Paranormal romance/ YA fiction
Booktalking Ideas:
*How might Zoey's "specialness" help to reconsider her family's inability to understand and "see" her for what she is?
*Are Zoey's aptitudes attributable to her Native American heritage (as her grandmother seems to believe)?
*Does Marked's emphasis on the matrifocal elements of vampire mythology seriously differ other novels' use of standard vampire myths?
Reading Level/ Interest Age
Categorized as Young Adult, but of interest to teens and beyond into any age of adulthood.
Challenge Issues
Challenges: sexual situations; magic.
Answer to challenges: Be familiar with book and its contents, providing personal answers to any challenges. Refer to library's policy regarding challenges. Provide reviews from local teen readers and those posted on reading sites.
Why include?
P.C. Cast is subject of upcoming author research paper....and a vampire boarding school seemed like a great place to start!