Yesterday by C. K. Kelly Martin.
Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 2012
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780375866500
Review: “Winston Churchill said, ‘Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves.’ I swear his words will be running around in my head for the next fifty years at least." These are the thoughts of sixteen-year-old Freya Kallas - the protagonist in Yesterday, a new dystopian thriller by C. K. Kelly Martin.
Freya Kallas of 2063 is living in a world that has been dramatically affected by the lack of attention paid to the environment in the 20th and early 21st centuries. She lives in a land that is no longer the United States, but is rather the United North America - a result of dwindling governments. In the UNA, climate has been dramatically altered, and coastal destruction has left much of North America desolate. Her world is fearing ecoterrorism, facing the rise of the robot, and a plunge into a virtual world. Family structures have been altered, and as a result of the Bio-net, typical health issues become nearly non-existent. One night, however Freya is fearing for her brother’s life when the SecRos remove her and her mother, give them an injection, and when Freya wakes up, she has no recollection of 2063, but she knows something is not quite right with her life in 1985. Nothing seems real to her until she sees a mysterious boy. But how does she tell him that he’s the subjects of her dreams of a life so far removed from there. How does she tell a total stranger that he’s the only true reality for her?
Martin has written a fantastically unique thriller. 2063 is close enough that readers will fear what could be in their future if changes do not happen today, and the disconnect that Freya feels is utterly believable. Yesterday draws readers in from the first page and keeps them wanting more. Although readers can begin to predict how Freya (and Garren) are transported back in time, the way in which their situation is handled by friends and foe is unpredictable, keeping readers tense and in fear until the very end. While readers are learning about Freya and her adjustments to a new school and a new life and watching her transform into something she’s not merely to have something that seems “real" in her life, readers become more and more passionate about her and her quest to find something that feels right. So when she meets Garren, readers have an investment in Freya’s character and every action becomes personal. Readers will find themselves cheering for her, fearing with her, and crying with her as she faces the most difficult time in her life. Yesterday is filled with enough suspense, mystery, and passion to enthrall any young adult reader.
Review written by Margo Nauert (6th grade teacher).
We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Yesterday for this review.
Have you read Yesterday? How would you rate it?
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