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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Once-troubled teens become model citizens in Candor. “Respectful space in every place!” is a guiding principle that every young couple embraces. Everyone conforms, and teenager Oscar Banks, the mayor’s son, knows why: Music plays everywhere in Candor, and his father embeds subliminal messages in the songs. Not long after his father established Candor, Oscar figured out how to counteract the messages with personal recordings of his own. For him, conformity is all an act. Occasionally—and for a hefty fee—Oscar helps other kids, newcomers who still have a sense of self, escape the town and a future of mindless belonging. But a new girl in Candor poses a dilemma for Oscar. Nia is a free-spirited artist with an edginess Oscar admires. If he tells her the truth about Candor, he knows she’ll want to leave. Can he manipulate the messages she hears so that she seems to fit in even as the things that make her unique and appealing to him remain? Pam Bachorz’s provocative novel examines how both Oscar and his father are caught up in a web of power and control, one in which fear, anxiety, and even good intentions can lead to selfish, frightening ends. Bachorz’s inspiration for Candor was the planned community of Celebration, Florida. (Age 13 and older)

CCBC Choices 2010 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2010. Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

July 20, 2009
Debut novelist Bachorz delivers a dystopian novel that takes place in the present, giving the genre a fresh twist. In the town of Candor, conformity is law; negative emotions are banished; and residents are fed a steady diet of subliminal Messages—“Respectful space in every place. Avoid physical contact”—that dull any impulse toward creativity, rebellion or even sexual desire. Oscar Banks, the son of Candor's founder, leads a double life. Secretly, he's the town's biggest rebel—he illegally shuttles kids to freedom before the Messages can take hold (for a price)—while on the surface he's “the model Candor boy.... Proof that the Messages work.” But when Oscar falls for the new girl, Nia, he's forced to rethink his entire identity. Some of the premise is difficult to swallow, such as that within days, residents of Candor become so addicted to the Messages that even a few hours without them could mean death. But Bachorz needs this high-stakes bit to justify why kids can't simply run away. On the whole, it's a compelling story that quickly becomes a page-turner. Be prepared for a chilling ending. Ages 12–up.