The Sixteen

by Ali B.

Dewey Larson Publishing     2014

194 pages     Middle Grade Science Fiction

The Shortlist

The Sixteen is the second book in a science fiction series for young readers called Soul Jumpers. It is essential to read the first book in the series, Iris Brave, before attempting to read this one. I had a hard time soul jumping into the concept and identifying with the characters.

Iris Brave is a soul jumper as is her father. She takes on the mission of finding her father, who is being held captive. She is slightly uncertain who her father is, exactly, because he is a soul jumper, and Iris is finding out that she is a soul jumper, too. What is a soul jumper, you ask? Well, luckily for the reader, an explanation is given early in The Sixteen.

Here's what we know:

  a soul jumper is a person whose soul leaves its body and enters the body of a dead person.

  a soul jumps because it still has something it needs to do on earth.

The soul jumper's family doesn't know they're still alive.

The Council makes all the decisions for the soul jumpers.

 The council is evil.

There is a group called the Sixteen who rebelled against the Council.

The Sixteen want to tell the world about soul jumpers.

The Sixteen is an appealing science fiction book for middle grade readers—my guess would be fifth graders. I received it from the publicist. The author is a teacher and has a good sense of what children like to read. It is self-published and available online at Amazon.

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