The Knife of Never Letting Go

Ness, P. (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

In this first book of the Chaos Walking trilogy, Todd lives in a strange, future world where everyone can hear each other's thoughts, including animals.  Another strange thing about his town, Prentisstown is there are no women, only men.  Todd lives with two men, Ben and Cillian who have raised and looked out for him when his mother died.  Todd is also the youngest person in the town and will soon be considered a man when he turns thirteen.  There are strange things that are happening in the swamp near town,  and soon Todd must escape the town with his dog Manchee, a book from his mother, and a knife.   Soon Todd discovers a girl hiding in the swamp from a spaceship wreck.  But an evil man named Aaron has also discover the secret of the girl in the swamp, and a chase begins.  Todd protects the girl, Viola, from Aaron.  Todd, Viola, and Manchee escape to the closest town, where there are women.  They soon discover the secret of Prestisstown,  that the women were killed. Soon the men of Prestisstown discover where Viola, Todd, and Manchee are hiding out and destroy the town.  The three of them continue on and are trying to reach a city named Haven, where Viola may be able to contact a spacecraft.  The chase continues as the three travel on.  Throughout the story Todd struggles with being able to kill a man.   One day, he does kill a Spackle, the natives that have inhabited the planet.  Throughout the book he is taunted by Aaron, who kills his dog Manchee.  Aaron tells Todd that if he kills him, he will become a man.  But, Viola kills Aaron before Todd has a chance.  Todd struggles with his conflicting feelings of death, killing, and becoming a man.  He feels responsible for protecting Viola from harm, but in the end, they are caught by the men of Prestisstown. 

This futuristic tale includes so many twists and turns as Todd discovers the truth behind the horrible lie of his hometown.  Todd tries to figure out how to deal with coming of age, encountering women for the first time, and losing the only family that he has ever known.  This book could be used to study character development as Todd struggles with so many conflicting thoughts and  feelings throughout the book.  Along the way he also encounters problem after problem which he must try to solve to survive.

Connections for young adults:  This is a book where students could read for vicarious situations.  It is set in another place and time, as well as situations such as murder, hearing other's thoughts, and space travel.