The Testing

Published in 2013,The Testing is the first in a dystopian young adult trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau; it is Charbonneau’s first venture into YA fiction. The Testing is often compared to Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games due to its dystopian setting and the similarity of the brutal, life-or-death situations to which each series’ teen protagonists are subjected. The Testing received the Anthony Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel in 2014 and was nominated for several other awards, including the 2013 Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel, the 2015 Lincoln Award, and the 2016 Missouri Truman Readers Award.

Plot Summary

At 16, Malencia “Cia” Vale is chosen for The Testing—an opportunity bestowed upon only the best and brightest students. Cia’s world is still recovering from a devastating war that ended a century ago and destroyed both society and the environment. The new government, the United Commonwealth, selects the best of each year’s graduating class across its colonies and brings those candidates to the capitol, Tosu City—formerly Wichita, Kansas—where they undergo secretive Testing. Students chosen for The Testing almost never return home; they’re told successful candidates are sent to the colonies where their skills are most needed after University.