First, these books cover a topic that is critically important. <\/strong><\/p>\nDare I suggest these are some of the most insightful books I\u2019ve ever read about our culture? I may have to hunt down and read everything Shusterman has ever written, but only after I\u2019ve finished this series (which can\u2019t happen until after I finish the last book).<\/p>\n
There are topics going on right now that are taking over our politics, and I\u2019ll bet I don\u2019t even have to name them, do I? Imagine if abortion was illegal, but you could \u201cunwind\u201d your teenager between ages 13 and 17. Unwinding, according to these books, means that something like 99% of the body\u2019s parts have to be used again, so the person is still technically (according to the people in favor of it) \u201cliving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funny how there are a whole lotta teens who don\u2019t WANT to be unwound, though.<\/p>\n
By the third book, the discussion is, \u201cWell, can\u2019t we unwind criminals? And how about people who want extra money for their families?\u201d<\/p>\n
These books cover the topic of humanity in a way that, really, only fiction can. And they do it in a gripping, compelling way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just a topic that\u2019s important for YA readers.<\/p>\n
Second, these books bear discussion. <\/strong><\/p>\nAnd I can\u2019t discuss them if I haven\u2019t read them. I am SO GLAD that one of my niece\u2019s teachers made\u00a0Unwind<\/i>, the first book in the series, required reading in her class. I would have loved to be there to hear the discussion\u2026her and I have discussed it a few times as I\u2019ve worked my way through the books.<\/p>\n
I also can\u2019t help but think what an important discussion this is for our teens to have.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard it said that many young people are pro-life and against abortion in ways I just can\u2019t comprehend, and I\u2019m going to do the research to find those numbers. But even without that, they need to be having this discussion.<\/p>\n
What is human life? What is dignity?<\/p>\n
These are topics that are more important than the latest gadget, and we all know it. Yes, even the kids know it, though they might never admit it to you or me. \ud83d\ude42 But when\u2019s the last time you had that conversation without throwing your hands up in the air?<\/p>\n
Third, these books make you think. <\/strong><\/p>\nNo matter what your stance is on life issues, you will be forced to look at things through another lens. Your brain will stretch.<\/p>\n
And that, I think, is what our world needs more of. Especially now.<\/p>\n
These difficult topics are rarely black and white. There are layers to everything, and what Shusterman does so expertly is craft a story that explores that\u2026without seeming to do that at all.<\/p>\n
What I most appreciate about these books is how Shusterman has hope woven in. Because there is hope.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but wonder about Mr. Shusterman. I\u2019ll admit: I did email him asking if I could interview him. His publicist told me to email some questions, which I did. What I would REALLY like is to talk to him on the phone, though, or to meet him in person. I\u2019d like to have a cup of coffee and just talk about writing and let the conversation wend its way around. I get the feeling that Neal Shusterman is quite a guy.<\/p>\n
Or maybe not. In any event, these are SOME BOOKS.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1133,"featured_media":2709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[112,341,27,295],"class_list":["post-2708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-fiction","tag-review","tag-ya","tag-young-adult"],"yoast_head":"\n
Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-21T18:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-16T17:25:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/94\/2014\/10\/unwind-complete.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1745\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2207\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Reinhard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Reinhard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-21T18:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-16T17:25:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/5d2d33d15f700477e691ef4b4ad2d352\"},\"description\":\"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/5d2d33d15f700477e691ef4b4ad2d352\",\"name\":\"Sarah Reinhard\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2e7031410ef9c98d4ccd946de71b0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2e7031410ef9c98d4ccd946de71b0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Reinhard\"},\"description\":\"Looking for Sarah Reinhard? Chances are she's hiding from her kids with her nose in a book...which is just too bad for the housework and cooking. Her greatest delight of late is how her kids are becoming bigger bibliophiles than she is. (And she's really only a beginner and a hack at that.) She\u2019s online at SnoringScholar.com, CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/snoringscholar.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/sarahreinhard\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone","description":"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone","og_description":"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/","og_site_name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","article_published_time":"2014-10-21T18:00:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-16T17:25:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1745,"height":2207,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/94\/2014\/10\/unwind-complete.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sarah Reinhard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah Reinhard","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/","name":"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-21T18:00:06+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-16T17:25:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/5d2d33d15f700477e691ef4b4ad2d352"},"description":"Sarah Reinhard considers why the Unwind series is one that EVERYONE should read.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/10\/why-i-recommend-the-unwind-series-to-everyone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why I Recommend the Unwind Series to Everyone"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/","name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/5d2d33d15f700477e691ef4b4ad2d352","name":"Sarah Reinhard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2e7031410ef9c98d4ccd946de71b0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8a2e7031410ef9c98d4ccd946de71b0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sarah Reinhard"},"description":"Looking for Sarah Reinhard? Chances are she's hiding from her kids with her nose in a book...which is just too bad for the housework and cooking. Her greatest delight of late is how her kids are becoming bigger bibliophiles than she is. (And she's really only a beginner and a hack at that.) She\u2019s online at SnoringScholar.com, CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.","sameAs":["http:\/\/snoringscholar.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/sarahreinhard\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"unwind](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/94\/2014\/10\/unwind-complete.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n