Off the road - Nina Bawden

"Give this to fans of Lowry's The Giver."-Booklist

It is the year 2035, and kids are the only ones who matter.

In Tom's world, every family has only one child. "Brother" and "sister" are insults. And the Oldies, like Gandy-Tom's grandfather-are taken away to Memory Theme Parks. On the way to the Theme Park, Gandy escapes into the Wild Wood, the dangerous world outside their walled city. Tom has no choice but to follow. The wilderness is like nowhere he's ever been before, and the more he learns at Gandy's side, the more he wonders: Is the wall meant to keep the Outsiders out, as he's been taught in school-or the Insiders in?

"Nina Bawden's skill is placing a set of vibrant characters in a compelling plot seasoned with cold reality, the warmth of enduring relationships, and moral ironies."-Kirkus Reviews

Nina Bawden was one of the UK's best writers for both adults and children. She often used her own childhood experiences in her books-Carrie's War is set in the mining valley in Wales where she lived as an evacuee in wartime. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Somerville College, Oxford and finished her first novel the year after she took her degree. She won the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction for The Peppermint Pig. Nina died in 2012, aged 87.

"For sci-fi buffs not yet ready to tackle Orwell's 1984, Bawden here introduces many of the same provocative issues for middle readers."--Publishers Weekly

"Through the characters' experiences, readers become aware of the rules and rewards of both societies and must grapple with issues of individual rights and freedoms and the sacrifices that are required to insure security. An interesting . . . trip back to the future."--School Library Journal

"Tom, Gandy, and the family Outside capture and hold interest."--Kirkus Reviews