Title and Author: Select by Merit Weisenberg

Plot Overview: Julia Jaynes is a member of a highly-evolved species of humans that tries to blend in with the general population. Their special evolution gives them a variety of special powers. The leader of these special humans is Julia’s father, who is planning to relocate these humans where they can live alone as they actually are. One day, Julia ends up endangering that her “species” actually has special powers while trying to save her sister at a public swimming pool. This ends up involving a non-special human, and incredibly complicated legal repercussions ensue. As a consequence, Julia gets sent to a public school, apart from the rest of her species. She soon learns more about what life really is outside of her species, and as complications with her “family” continue to accumulate, she is faced with the complex decision of how and where to decide her future should go.

Critique: I like the detail in which the author developed all of the characters, as well as how believable the “magical” elements of the book were. It was a good story. However, I did not like how cliche some parts of the novel were. I thought it was going to be deeper than a typical YA teenage issues story, but I was disappointed that it did not explore the natural selection/evolution aspects as much as it could have.

Cover Critique: I liked the cover a lot. I thought it was simplistic enough but conveyed the essence of the book very well, especially with the bubble. The butterfly is also a really nice touch, but the monarch butterflies only appear at the denouement of the book and their role could have been a little bit bigger than the author made them out to be.

Star Rating: I would rate this book a 3/5. It was a little disappointing but not that bad. It would be a good read for ages 12 and up.