{"id":2886,"date":"2020-09-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-06T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/?p=2886"},"modified":"2021-11-19T10:03:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:03:46","slug":"grace-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/grace-year\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons to Add The Grace Year to Your Library"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Grace Year<\/em> by Kim Liggett is a hauntingly beautiful dystopian story about female relationships, societal expectations, and rebellion that needs to be added to your classroom library<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fine folk of Garner County know <\/em>that women have magic. They have the power to bewitch men, madden other women, and disrupt civilized society. That’s why every girl has her grace year: a period where she and her cohorts are sent out to expel their magic. But it’s forbidden to talk about the grace year. So they have no way of preparing for what’s coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a book that will absolutely captivate you and your young adult students. The themes within Liggett’s tale are complex, but relevant.<\/strong> I urge you to put a copy of The Grade Year<\/em> into your classroom library (assuming your teaching environment is not too conservative).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Grace Year<\/em> Is A Dark Dystopia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We know that teens love dystopian fiction. For this reason alone you should grab The Grace Year<\/a><\/em> for your classroom library. Students who loved The Hunger Games<\/em> will be more than ready for this one! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grace Year<\/a><\/em> opens up with two quotes: one from The Handmaid’s Tale<\/em> and one from Lord of the Flies<\/em>.<\/strong> As you read, it becomes clear just how fitting these quotes are. In fact, the novel reads like an all-female mash-up of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garner County’s ideas about women aren’t too far off from The Handmaid’s Tale<\/em>. Women are treated like property. If they don’t marry or can’t bear children, they’re worthless. The highest honor is to marry and produce a son; the lowest are cast-off to the outskirts, where they made do on nothing and serve as prostitutes to the county men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the grace year, the girls who have just reached a marriable age are all sent out into the wilderness together. You’d think that they’d work together to survive or even just enjoy the freedom they finally have together out in the woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, their own beliefs about themselves, their value, and their roles in society follow them into the forest. During the grace year, the biggest threat may not be the poachers, who hunt them like prey, or the ghosts of grace year girls before them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest threat could be each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n