What in our contem- porary lives might we consider Noise? What positive and negative impact do you think this Noise has on our lives? 6. Is the ﬁrst book.) Dystopian novels - ones that describe a future that is bleak, dark, and often fearful - offer the author a chance to comment on present-day society. And too much informayshun can drive a man mad.” And on page 42, he says, “The Noise is a man unﬁltered, and without a ﬁlter, a man is just chaos walking.” (Note that this last phrase, Do you think this effectively communicates what Noise might look and feel like? Where did this Noise come from? On page 391, Todd describes Noise as “Informayshun, all the time, never stopping, whether you want it or not. The author indicates Noise through the use of font. On pages 20–22, Todd refers to the Noise that ﬁlls his life. On page 51, Ben tells Todd that “knowledge is dangerous.” At one point in the story (page 142), Todd realizes, “The world’s a dangerous place when you don’t know enough.” How does Todd’s lack of education and knowledge affect his journey, especially in terms of his inability to read Ben’s note and map or his mother’s journal? How does the denial of education allow totalitarian government s (like that in Prentisstown) to control their citizens? 5. In fact, reading and writing are forbidden by the Mayor of Prentisstown. Todd tells us on pages 18 and 19 that he has had little education. What do these unfamiliar terms refer to? 4. I really like that kind of world building.” What clues did you pick up early on that led you to the conclusion that the book is set in a world different from our own? Look for words and phrases such as grublets, cassors, crested pine, ﬁssion- bike, and Packy Vines. Todd has always lived there, so it’s not another planet, it’s home.

Some people don’t realize they’re on another planet for a hundred pages, which I like. In a July 2009 interview at he said, “I started thinking, how would settlers really be? What would they really do? I thought that they would take names from Earth and stick them on whatever seemed closest. Ness imagines what it might be like to settle a new world.

The knife of never letting go series