Anderson, M. (2002). Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
The story takes place in the twenty-fifth century and
exemplifies a dystopian society where considerably more than half of the
population is controlled by an element that is called “The Feed.” The “feed” is
a device implanted in people’s brains and its function is to provide them with
unlimited internet access. The feed controls their thoughts, memories and
emotions. Needless to say, this feed controls everything in society, including
education. The feed provides the people with advertisement and other different
forms of consumer media. Because this world is controlled by the consumer
world, education and literacy have taken a back seat. The environment is also
deteriorating. People are no longer thinking for themselves because the feed is
controlling every aspect of the users’ minds.
The plot of the story might be a bit difficult to grasp at
first. We have a group of teenagers who on a Spring Break trip to the moon, yes
the moon, encounter a series of experiences that leave one in particular,
Titus, changed forever. He meets a girl by the name of violet who is slightly
different than he is. With her, Titus learns that perhaps this “feed” is not
necessarily the best for anyone and learns to question the why of it all.
While reading this book, it reminded me of The Giver. And
although this type of literature is not my favorite, I must confess that it is
quite an interesting read. Quite frankly, I don’t see all of my students
enjoying this type of format, however; I do believe that the reception would
still be of awe. And perhaps, the ones more into obviously science fiction and
technology, might find this type of read more interesting.
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