Unwind - Library Information - Reading - Research Guides at Aquinas College

Introduction

In the not-too-distant future, teens Connor, Risa, and Lev are on the run for their lives. Following the Second Civil War, between pro-choice and pro-life forces, the United States now allows parents to unwind their unwanted and difficult kids between the ages of thirteen and eighteen: Their bodies are surgically taken apart and all the organs and tissue are used in other people. According to the law, the kids aren't considered dead, they're "living in a divided state." But Connor, Risa, and Lev, and thousands of other teens slated for "unwinding", don't see it that way. They choose instead to "kick AWOL," or run away. Unwind follows these three across the country as they travel together, split up, and meet again when their destinies cross in a Harvest Camp where they are slated to be unwound.

Simon and Schuster

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Unwind/Neal-Shusterman/Unwind-Dystology/9781416912057/reading_group_guide

AWOL: a runaway teen, scheduled to be unwound, hoping to survive to age 18; said to be "kicking AWOL."
Bill of Life: the law instituting unwinding.
Boeuf: a soldier, male or female (from the French word for beef)
Chop Shop: the operating room where teens' bodies are surgically taken apart.
Clappers: suicide-terrorists who have replaced their blood with a nitroglycerin blend. They blow themselves up by clapping their hands.
Harvest Camp (formerly called "unwinding facilities"): where teenagers awaiting unwinding are housed, as well as where the procedure is performed.
Humphrey Dunfee: urban legend about an unwind whose parents go crazy from grief and kill all the recipients of their son's body parts, in an attempt to reassemble their son.
Juvey-cops: Police officer specializing in taking down AWOLs.
"Living in a divided state": a euphemism for being unwound.
StaHo: State Homes, orphanages where wards of the state stay until their eighteenth birthday or until they are sent to be unwound.
Storked: babies who are left on doorsteps. The homeowner is obligated to keep and raise the child.
Tithe: a child of a religious family who is born and raised to be unwound, as an act of charity.
Umber: the socially acceptable way to describe someone who is African American. (In contrast to sienna, the socially acceptable way to describe someone who is Caucasian.)

Connor Lassiter: a sixteen-year-old troubled kid. When he learns his parents have signed an unwind order, he runs away in search of a place to hide until he's eighteen years old.
Risa Ward: fifteen years old, an orphan at a state home. She runs away when the administrators sign the order to have her unwound, and out of necessity joins Connor in seeking safety.
Lev Calder: the tenth and youngest child of his religious family, a "tithe" who was born to be unwound when he reached his thirteenth birthday. He is "kidnapped" by Connor, who means to save him from his fate.
Pastor Dan: Lev's minister and his spiritual advisor. Pastor Dan gives Lev support as he approaches his unwinding, but at the moment Connor frees Lev, he urges him to run.
Hannah Steinberg: the high school teacher who hides Connor and Risa in a classroom.
Sonia: an antique-store owner who hides AWOL teens in her basement, the first step on their roundabout journey to safety.
Mai: an AWOL Asian girl whom Connor and Risa meet while in hiding.
Roland: a manipulative, ruthless AWOL bully who has continuing confrontations with Connor.
Hayden: a snarky but thoughtful AWOL with attitude.
Cyrus Finch (CyFi): a runaway teen encountered by Lev. Cyrus, who received a piece of brain from an unwind, is searching for something the unwound kid in his head is trying to tell him.
The Admiral: the adult, former U.S. Navy man who runs "the graveyard" where many AWOL teens stay for safety. The Admiral was one of the drafters of the Bill of Life.
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Unwind/Neal-Shusterman/Unwind-Dystology/9781416912057/reading_group_guide

Aerorplane Boneyards
Davis-Monthan AFB's role in the storage of military aircraft began after World War II, and continues today.
It has evolved into "the largest aircraft boneyard in the world".
List and map of aeroplane boneyards in the USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_boneyard#/media/File:B52sdestroyed.jpg

Boeing B-52s in storage or awaiting dismantlement in Arizona

Independent: World's largest plane graveyard of US military fighters in desert can now be explored online in amazing interactive map

Organ Donation

WHO : Global Health Ethics
Transplantation of human organs and tissues, which saves many lives and restores essential functions for many otherwise untreatable patients, both in developing and developed countries, has been a topic for ethical scrutiny and health care policy-making for more than thirty years. These issues include the source and manner of organ procurement, as well as the allocation of organs within health systems.
WHO: Transplantation
Transplantation is the transfer (engraftment) of human cells, tissues or organs from a donor to a recipient with the aim of restoring function(s) in the body. When transplantation is performed between different species, e.g. animal to human, it is named xenotransplantation.
World Book: Organ Donation
Medical professionals are investigating ways to expand the supply of human organs for transplant. Some ways include increasing live donation and providing compensation for organ donors.
Australian Govt, Organ and Tissue Authority
National organ donation program surpasses 10,000 lives saved and improved
Australian Govt, Organ and Tissue Authority: Frequently Asked Questions
Organ donation is a life-saving and life-transforming medical process. Organ and tissue donation involves removing organs and tissues from someone who has died (a donor) and transplanting them into someone who, in many cases, is very ill or dying (a recipient).
Australian Govt. Dept. of Human Services: Australian Organ Donor Register Statistics

History: Escaping Danger

Britannica School: Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad, in the United States, a system existing in the Northern states before the Civil War by which escaped slaves from the South were secretly helped by sympathetic Northerners, in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Acts, to reach places of safety in the North or in Canada. Though neither underground nor a railroad, it was thus named because its activities had to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguise, and because railway terms were used in reference to the conduct of the system.
World Book Online: Underground Railroad

Britannica School: Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler, (born April 28, 1908, Svitavy [Zwittau], Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now in the Czech Republic]—died October 9, 1974, Hildesheim, West Germany), German industrialist who, aided by his wife and staff, sheltered approximately 1,100 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his factories, which supplied the German army during World War II.

Britannica School: Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg, (born August 4, 1912, Stockholm, Sweden—died July 17, 1947?, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Swedish businessman and diplomat who became legendary through his efforts to rescue Hungarian Jews during World War II and through his disappearance while a prisoner in the Soviet Union

The Japanese Times: Chiune Sugihara, man of conscience
A look at the legacy of the diplomat who saved thousands from the Nazis during World War II

About the Author

Goodreads: Neal Shusterman
Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. After spending his junior and senior years of high school at the American School of Mexico City, Neal went on to UC Irvine, where he made his mark on the UCI swim team, and wrote a successful humour column. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal, and was hired to write a movie script.
Neal Shusterman Official Site

Online Study Guides

The Unwind Dystology

Neal Shusterman shares the secrets behind the New York Times bestselling Unwind Dystology.