Unwind by Neal Shusterman

  I read this at the beginning of the summer and was mesmerized by it. It's a creepy good read. This a futuristic "what if" and really gives you something to think about. In this future, at the age of 16, children can be Unwound, that is, they can be pieced out--harvested--for body parts. The three main characters are marked as Unwinds for different reasons. Connor is a trouble maker and his parents want to be rid of him. Risa is an orphan and the orphanage needs her space for the next kid in line, and Lev is scheduled for Unwinding as a part of his religion. These three end up on the run together because, if they can make to the age of 18, they are free to go on living as a whole human being. This is a dark story, and although fictitious it feels strangely real. When one character--a young man who received the brain of an Unwind, begins to have the unconscious thoughts of that Unwind, it is disturbingly real. And by the end of the book, when the reader experiences an Unwind first hand, it gives a picture of a future that we don't want.