Ryan, C. (2009). The forest of hands and teeth. New York: Delacorte Press.
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73681-7
Plot Summary
Mary has listened to her mother tell stories about the ocean, and her hope is to see it. That would mean leaving her village, which sits secluded in the middle of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The village is surrounded by a fence, and outside the fence is where the Unconsecrated live. They are zombies, but they infect their victim instead of eating flesh. The Sisterhood has rules and religion to keep the village alive. It’s a post apocalyptic story that takes place seven generations after a plague that kills people, but the people come back as zombie-like creatures. Mary’s father left the village never to return, taken by the unconsecrated, and Mary’s mother has been pining for him ever since until she is infected as well. When the protective fence is breached, Mary and her friends must fight to stay alive. Meanwhile, a love triangle develops between Mary and two brothers, Travis and Harry. Ultimately, one of them is infected, and Mary must put him out of his misery. Mary eventually does reach the ocean and learns a valuable message.
Critical Evaluation
The narrator of The Forest of Hands and Teeth is Mary, and through her first-person account, readers are drawn into a rich setting made clear through descriptive details. Readers are captivated by the first few lines: “My mother used to tell me about the ocean. She said there was a place where there was nothing but water as far as you could see and that it was always moving, rushing toward you and then away” (1). The suspense begins here and builds through the plot’s twists and turns. In some ways, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is reminiscent of Lois Lowry’s The Giver with their similar ruling societies and barriers. However, in this story, Mary is facing the Unconsecrated, which adds to it an element of horror. Also like The Giver is a sexual undertone. Much of the story is Mary’s thoughts rather than plot action. When the story reaches its conclusion and Mary is at the ocean, the frame created by the link to the beginning presents us with a satisfying conclusion and still leaves an opening for the next installment, The Dead-Tossed Waves (2010). Readers will be inspired that determination and hope can ultimately wash evil away.
Reader’s Annotation
Mary would love to see the ocean her mother has always talked about, but she cannot leave the watchful eyes of the Sisterhood and the fence keeps her protected from the zombies on the other side. When the barrier is breached, Mary and her friends must fight for survival while they are being challenged by conflicts of knowledge, friendship, and love.
Author Information
Carrie Ryan was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. She was very active in sports and read on the weekends. She especially enjoyed Sweet Valley High and Christopher Pike. She went away to college to experience a different climate in Massachusetts, but ultimately she did not like how it was cold most of the year, so she moved Virginia. There she wrote books that agents did not like. She then tried her hand at chick lit, but she felt did not have the kind of life experience that would lend itself to this kind of writing.
Ryan made the life-altering decision to go to Duke Law School to pursue a career in law. It was there that she met her now-husband, JP. He took her to see the first horror movie she had seen since Poltergeist. She hated horror movies. Dawn of the Dead (the remake), fascinated her and she was intrigued by everything zombie. JP happily indulged her new obsession. Ryan wanted to know what happens after a zombie apocalypse generations later and so The Forest of Hands and Teeth was born.
More about Carrie Ryan and her books can be found at her website:
http://www.carrieryan.com/
Genre
Young Adult
Science Fiction
Horror
Survival
Zombies
Romance
Curriculum Ties
Geography, infectious diseases
Book Talking Ideas
Infectious diseases, epidemics
Reading Level/ Interest Age
Appropriate for ages 14 and up
Challenge Issues
Horror
Challenge Defense
If this book were challenged, I would cite these reviews as well as consult ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Booklist 01/01/09
Publishers Weekly starred 02/02/09
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 04/01/09
School Library Journal starred 05/01/09
Horn Book 10/01/09
Kirkus Review 02/15/09
Why did I include this title?
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