Bumped by Megan Mccafferty is a dystopian novel that takes place in a world where a virus has caused sterility in adults. This has led to a society that encourages teenagers to get pregnant and give their babies away to the highest bidding couple. Melody has spent her entire life preparing to be a professional surrogate and feels strongly that girls should get paid for professional "pregging." Her twin sister Harmony grew up in a super religious compound and has been prepared to be a wife since the time she was born. When Harmony runs away and shows up on Melody's doorstep they both start to question the things they always believed.
I enjoyed this book and it is a great addition to the dystopian genre. The author did a great job at world building and was able to create a dystopian world that was outrageous yet believable. The twins each grew throughout the story and there is still quite a bit of story left to be told. I appreciated that the author allowed the reader to make their own decisions as to whose views were correct and neither side was portrayed as the right decision. The book was not a social commentary on the evils of part of society but a novel about evaluating what you have always been taught and making your own decisions.
Appropriateness: This dystopian tale much like others that have been on the market recently was built around a premise of the government controlling or encouraging teenage sexuality. In this case teenagers are encouraged to become pregnant, to "bump" (have sex) and to give their babies away. Even though sex and sexuality is the main premise of this book the content is still fairly tame. There is one sex scene that you would miss if you blinked twice and is not descriptive. The teenagers are also pushed to take pharmaceuticals by the government so they will be more distant from their fetuses and be more willing to "bump", these drugs are not portrayed in a positive light but as a way for the government to control the behavior of teenagers. I did not find the content to be inappropriate for a middle school audience (although some may find the topic icky) and would recommend the book for ages 13+
