Beautiful cover and the synopsis really appealed to me. For some reason I am just unable to finish this book. I have started it three different times and just cannot connect with it. Once in awhile, a reader just doesn't mesh with a book. My apologies, it doesn't happen often with me.

The List by Patricia Forde is a middle grade book based on the premise that if you control people's ability to communicate, you control their actions and hence their impact on the world. As a adult reading the book, the story has two competing forces - the power and love of language and the environmental statement on the destruction of Earth by man. It is the story of language that appeals to me but the environmental message that is at the heart of this book.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/09/the-list.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

First and foremost, this is a dystopian tween novel, but adults like myself will adore it. It's far more complex than I would have given a kids novel, but completely understandable and relatable for all ages. The story centers around a society where words are slowing being banned and the only ones you can speak are on "The List". This was such an incredible concept to work with and reading it was so much fun. The book does a great job of showing you things along the way and keeps you guessing. I would recommend it to any age group, for the message is a wonderful one. 5 stars from me!

I really liked the premise of this book but I couldn't get into it. The concept is very interesting. It has real promise. Perhaps it will appeal to younger readers.

I was drawn to the book because of the cover primary, but secondarily its concept. After reading the book, I felt like it was too predictable and even dragged on a bit for me. I still enjoyed it on an overall basis though!

For a middle school/ YA fiction story, this is quite good. Is it the most unique thing I've read? No. But it is interesting and the author does quite a good job in putting her spin on this situation. Letta was a strong character and I really enjoyed her perspective. She was brave, caring, and downright righteous in her actions and thoughts. I wish that the story had been a bit longer so that the plot could have been more fleshed out, but again, this is a book for middle schoolers and it is quite successful in keeping children of that age group interested. The only negative for this story was that the antagonist didn't really have a strong reason for his actions; if that had been worked out a bit better, this novel would have been even more successful. While I normally do not read books for middle schoolers, this was quite a good story and I would recommend it to any child who likes dystopian novels.

There were so many things to love about this book, however, there were also things that bugged me about this book. I loved the characters and the character development in this middle-school, YA read. I also liked how the fates of the characters weren't really clichéd. I found, however, the story itself seemed to sort of mimic other books/series that already exist within its genre, such as The Giver. At times, I felt like I'd disconnect with the story, however, I feel like the ending help redeem what my thoughts about the book had been.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you enjoy middle-grade genre fiction, then you should check this out because it's a nice, refreshing twist on dystopian classics (Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver to name a couple). It also doesn't censor intense scenes, which was a nice change. Personally, I think this is a novel that will be loved by both kids and adults. There's just something in there for all levels of readers.

The story follows Letta, a Wordsmith apprentice who later becomes the master Wordsmith, as she helps collect the words and distribute lists of approved words out. Unapproved words are destroyed. The world of Ark was created by John Noa after the Melting that happened long ago due to global warming being denied by politicians... sound familiar? There were so many Noah's Ark references I picked up on. The author, Patricia Forde, definitely wrote this as a dystopian retelling of Noah's Ark that's reminiscent of Fahrenheit 451, which made me that much more hook. The intensity and readability was just right on key. Definitely check this one out! I know I'll be purchasing a copy to had to my personal classroom library for my students.

In fact, 'The List' is a middle-grade that I'd definitely consider reading with my 7th graders since we'll be going over genre fiction at one point in the school year.

As a concept, this is decent. The word approach is unique. Sort of the opposite of The Giver, generalizing language rather than making it more precise. So that central conceit frames it in a new light, but at heart its much like every other dystopia: the growing realization that your perfect society is deeply flawed, its leaders corrupt and/or insane, those you demonized may actually be right, etc. In addition to language, art and all forms of creativity are dismissed.d I think this is easy for young readers to understand. We value art and especially music. The harder concept will be making the connection between vocabulary and ecological disaster. We end up concluding that Noa has lost his mind, weakening the character and thus the impact of the plot.

*This book was provided by NetGalley in return for a honest review*

As a librarian and an English major language is something that is very important to me as is access. In this story a group of people are living in a post Melting world in an area called The Ark. The leader of this group has decided to control the people who live within The Ark by restricting their language to 500 words.
Letta is an apprentice wordsmith and as such has access to all the words that have been used previously and distributes words to people as needed. As the story progresses the leader tries to restrict language even further and Letta must decide how to act in order to preserve something fundamental to humanity and survival.
This book was absolutely amazing and I tore through it in almost one sitting. The setting and story were so real and it was terrifying to think about a world in which the words that were said could be restricted.

My mom received a copy of this book from Netgalley and gave it to me to read. Thank you to Netgalley, to the Author and to the Publisher. I am 12 years old I found the reading level was a little bit easy, but good. I found the interest level excellent. I really liked the concept of the book, it was very original. One thing, at the end there was a lot of describing of where she was, and not a lot of things happening, so it got a little bit boring for a bit. The rest of the book was really good with a lot happening all of the time. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends. 4.5 /5

This dystopian middle school novel follows Letta, a wordsmith in charge of saving the words that the people of Ark are no longer allowed to use. You see, there are only 500 government-sanctioned words in her world, and Letta is shocked to discover that the plan is to silence her people once and for all. What is a dystopian heroine to do but rebel?

Though the plot was interesting and the world created is based on climate changes we are witnessing now, it did seem that the author threw every trope in the dystopian handbook into this one. Nonetheless, it was a satisfying read.

Dystopian fiction for middle grade readers. I found the concept of this book intriguing, Letta is an apprentice wordsmith in a place that exists after the melting of the ice caps. Noa and a few other people saw the effects of climate change and made plans to survive, one thing that they believe is that language must be limited to save the society. Letta and the Wordsmith collect words and distribute them to people as needed for their jobs, then he goes missing and Letta uncovers a sinister plot to silence all the people except a select few.

I enjoyed this book and enjoyed the thought-process that came with imagining what it would be like to speak in a limited language and how much does that hurt who we are as human beings. The plot line was strong and made sense. I have read that others found this book a cross between 1984 and The Giver. While I have never read 1984 but have read The Giver I can kind of see that but it reminded me more of The City of Ember. The book ended with the possibility of a second coming and I would definitely read to see what happens next.

The List is a well-written, middle-grade, dystopian novel. While the overall plot is somewhat predictable and is remarkably similar to a number of dystopian classics, the characters are well-developed and relatable.

In a post-flood world, those living in Ark, the boat that Noa built to save them (admittedly, a detail that gets an eye-roll from me), are limited to speaking with only 500 approved words. Noa has a master plan to further limit the list, but receives resistance from the wordsmith, Letta's master. Letta is left to try to piece together what is happening, who to trust, and what is appropriate for the future. Letta is a strong, smart, likeable female protagonist, which is a major plus for this novel.

There are a number of themes that could be pulled from this novel that would make it an interesting young book club book and/or classroom read aloud. In addition to themes of friendship and loyalty, issues of environmental damage, censorship, and dictatorship could also be broached.

The ending was such that I wouldn't be surprised if Forde pens a sequel in the upcoming years. I look forward to the (possible) continuation of Letta's story.

I think at some point people compared this book to a children’s version of 1984 and The Giver. Okay, it sort of is, and I sort of see it. I thought the better analogy might have been Fahrenheit 451 meets The Bible and they both walk into a bar called 1984. Though for children.

Erm.

In the end, the comparisons are all really just trying to say that the world is screwed up, and instead of making it better, some jerk at the top makes things much worse, and the poor people at the bottom have to make do or rise up.

Which is really how the book starts. As readers, we are introduced to Letta, an apprentice wordsmith in Ark. As wordsmiths, Benjamin and Letta are tasked locating and storing words from the outside world. Their main directive, however, is to provide words to the people of Ark, though provision is allowed to only a sanction of 500 words. List-speak is the appropriate form of conversation between people, and with 500 meager words, you can only imagine how that is going to turn out. I mean, abstract ideas don’t even come into play here. I don’t think I could survive this world…

So yeah, how does Letta, a wordsmith–or better yet, anyone–survive without words, with only just a List?

The book itself is a quick read and follows a story after the events of an ecological disaster. There’s a lot of worldbuilding involved, with inspiration being pulled from the Bible of all places. The Melting–which sounds like the worst-case scenario of global warming–has caused the world to overflood, destroying buildings and cities like nobody’s business. Amidst this disaster comes John Noa, who builds a city called Ark (like the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, if you didn’t pick up on it already), and saves many inhabitants from the apocalyptic disaster. He does, however, impose unreasonable rules for living in the area. And, throughout the story, it is clear how much he hates words (even though he likes speaking them, the hypocrite).

It’s easy to see where this is going, and as a children’s book, you expect it to go in the direction it does. Letta is a girl who grows up in the shadow of Ark, and does not question John Noa’s rules until her mentor goes missing. From there, she meet cutes a rebel artist/musician/Desecrator boy (which is kind of adorable, heh) and nurses him to a point where he owes a great debt to her. Then she meets a couple other hippie Desecrators and suddenly she is finding that the world is so much more than the safety and wordlessness of Ark.

So she rebels, too.

From what I read, the book seems to gear itself to a sequel, though one can read this as a standalone if you’re okay with how things are resolved (which, come to think of it, I’m not. Not really). There’s still the matter of Letta’s parentage as well as the question of what happens to Ark. There’s still a lot of words to be found and collected and shared. There’s still a lot of obnoxious gavvers that need boots up their rear ends–hem hem. And then of course there’s also the matter of Marlo. But I suppose that’s another story for another day.

The List is a very thought provoking, post-apocalyptic tale that will draw comparison to many classic dystopian tales such as The Giver and 1984. In Ark, a new society rises out of a period of chaos that began with The Melting, which rendered much of the world an inhospitable mess. The leader/co-creator of Ark is John Noa, and he and others identified language as one of the things that brought about the downfall of the world. As we all reside in a world of fake news, alternate facts, and a lot of really poor discourse on public policy, this premise may not ever have been as relevant as it is today.

In Patricia Forde's created world, a young girl named Letta is trying to figure out how to deal with working for of John Noa and doing what she believes is right. Letta works as an apprentice to the Wordsmith, a man charged by Noa with the task of creating lists of words that are acceptable for the general population to use and separate lists for specialists to use. This is an attempt to control the thoughts and actions of the human race and prevent some of the mistakes that brought about The Melting. Letta has always followed the teachings of Noa, but is also intrigued by what she sees outside of Ark, where there is more freedom to use language, and enjoy art, and music. As Letta tries to puzzle out what kind of world she wants to live in, she continues to get pushed in many directions as she learns more about the past that led to the development of Ark, and sees how it is run from the inside.

The List has a little of everything with some great action scenes including a gripping scene near the conclusion. Its strength, however, is that as you are traveling through the world of Ark with Letta as she figures out what she must do, it will leave you thinking about our own world. How is the partisan, political rhetoric that we hear so much today contributing to issues that we may have in our future? I am grateful to have had the chance to read this book through NetGalley. It was originally published in Ireland as The Wordsmith, but was recently published in North America with the new title.

This book takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the dictionary is 500 words long. The Ark is a place where the leader, John Noa, believes that he can control the people by removing free expression. While there are forces working against Ark to try to bring it down (the Desecrators) the wordsmith is in charge of controlling the language in Ark. When he goes out on a word finding mission it is up to the apprentice, a teenage girl named Letta, to run the shop. When a desecrator is shot by the Ark police force Letta decides to take him in a nurse him to health and learn some other very interesting things about her family, Ark, and the world beyond.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. I loved the names of the characters to start. I also liked the plot.

Thanks for the ARC :)

This was actually pretty interesting. I like how much was focused on language and words. Words can affect us in so many different ways, it makes us feel things, expresses how we feel and what we think. It creates and it destroys. I loved the characters and their development. Letta was really interesting especially when she found out everything from Noah. It sparked this anger and rebellion in her and it was just awesome

I'm normally not one for apocalypse and end of the world type books as they completely stress me out! Though I have to say that I was intrigued by what people have been saying about this one, so I decided to give it a try. As I mentioned in my #IMWAYR post this past Monday, this story immediately sucked me in! I was intrigued by the idea of words being the perceived threat to this post apocalyptic world, and even though I don't like them, I have read a few books like this, as well as seen a few movies on the same topic, but never have words been the "bad guy". It was a very interesting and intriguing story, getting a glimpse of what life might be like without freedom of speech. I also liked the main character Letta. She is young, but strong and courageous, and willing to do what she must in order to do what she knows is right. I always enjoy reading books with strong female main characters! There are a few twists woven throughout the story, and the end kept me glued to my kindle!