• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

After three years abroad, sixteen-year-old Blake Pendleton returns to his old high school and is shocked to find that the world he knew has turned upside down.

Everyone at school wears a military-style uniform now and Blake soon learns the hard way that independence in any form is not encouraged. After questioning something his teacher tells him, he gets locked up in an isolation room.

Once he’s released, Blake goes looking for allies and finds Ming and Gina, two students who have learned how to play along. From them, Blake learns about the school’s “induction education,” a mind-training program set up by the government to train students to be teachers, cops and other types of community leaders. It’s brainwashing and job training all in one. Somehow, Blake and his new friends must find a way to escape their predetermined fate. But who can they trust?

No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada's literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets.

Lesley Choyce's profile page

• Commended, BC Books for BC Schools

“A compelling read, one that rings just a little too true to the current political climate in North America. It is a novel that will make readers stop and think about what the future holds and how they can choose to affect it. Highly Recommended.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“A solid hi-lo novel for students who would enjoy 1984 or The Hunger Games.”

School Library Journal

“Shows readers the shocking nature of extreme changes that crept up on everyone else. A chilling glimpse of life under authoritarian rule for reluctant readers.”

Kirkus Reviews