Science is amazing. It is absolutely incredible to think of the things we can do today that we couldn't do 100 year ago or 50 years ago... My Uncle Bus just celebrated his 90th birthday. He lives in St. Louis and his kids live in California and South Carolina and he visits them often. "After all," he says, "they are just a short airplane ride away." That is so different from his childhood when he grew up in Kansas and Oklahoma and never traveled very far from his home until he joined the army and they sent him to WWII. Uncle Bus talks about his pacemaker and his heart by-passes and the many things that the doctors can do now that they couldn't do before. And all that raises the question of how much should we do just because we can. Cloning, genetic engineering and other biological advances are possible, but does that make them ethical?The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson explores these questions. Jenna Fox has been in an accident and was in a coma for over a year. When she wakes up, her parents have moved her from Boston to California and she can't remember anything about her past. Slowly these memories come back, and Jenna learns some disturbing truths about herself. Jenna discovers that she can recite Thoreau and tell about obscure events in history and she can remember things that happened when she was only a year old, but she can't remember the accident and what happened to her friends Kara and Locke. After much exploration, Jenna finally understands the horror of what has happened and what she truly is. The excitement of the novel is what she decides to do about it.
This is a great novel about what makes us human and the extents parents will go to in order to save a child, but it is more than that. I don't want you to think this is a boring book that makes you think. It is an exciting adventure of self-discovery. The people Jenna meets and the choices she makes build to a thrilling climax. This book will make you think, but it is also an truly enjoyable story.
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