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  1. Books
  2. Ages 9-12
  3. Crime and adventure stories ages 9-12

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4.0(22)

Dread Nation

New York Times bestseller * Six starred reviews

At once provocative, terrifying, and darkly subversive, Dread Nation is Justina Ireland's stunning vision of an America both foreign and familiar—a country on the brink, at the explosive crossroads where race, humanity, and survival meet.

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.

In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.

But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose.

But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies.

And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

""Abundant action, thoughtful worldbuilding, and a brave, smart, and skillfully drawn cast entertain as Ireland illustrates the ignorance and immorality of racial discrimination and examines the relationship between equality and freedom."" (Publishers Weekly, ""An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List"")


Author:

  • Justina Ireland

Narrator:

  • Bahni Turpin

Format:

  • Audiobook
  • E-book

Duration:

  • 11 h 58 min
  • 261 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Ages 9-12
  • Crime and adventure stories ages 9-12
  • Ages 9-12
  • Stories ages 9-12
  • Ages 9-12
  • Historical fiction ages 9-12
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Love and life
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Novels
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Mysteries

More by Justina Ireland

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  1. The High Republic. 1, Ett okänt hot

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  2. Deathless Divide

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  3. Black Enough

    Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coleen Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Liara Tamani, Renée Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia

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  4. The Leisure Class: A Novel

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  5. Tales from Cabin 23: The Boo Hag Flex

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  6. Never and Again

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  7. Ophie’s Ghosts

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  8. Deathless Divide : The sequel to Dread Nation

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  9. Feral Youth

    Shaun David Hutchinson, Suzanne Young, Marieke Nijkamp, Robin Talley, Stephanie Kuehn, E. C. Myers, Tim Floreen, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, Brandy Colbert

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  10. Feral Youth

    Shaun David Hutchinson, Suzanne Young, Marieke Nijkamp, Robin Talley, Stephanie Kuehn, E. C. Myers, Tim Floreen, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, Brandy Colbert

    audiobook
  11. Promise of Shadows

    Justina Ireland

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  • 14 books

    Justina Ireland

    Justina Ireland enjoys dark chocolate, dark humor, and is not too proud to admit that she’s still afraid of the dark. She lives with her husband, kid, and dog in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. Visit her at JustinaIreland.com.

    Read more

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