NEED

Book Name

NEED

Author

Joelle Charbonneau

Book Description

The town of Nottawa was peaceful – until NEED showed up. The site that gives you whatever you want – for a small price. All Kaylee Dunham has ever wanted was a replacement kidney for her dying brother, so when NEED shows up, she immediately puts in a request for one. But NEED has its downfalls. The prices the site asks from the kids are dangerous – and sometimes deadly. Soon enough, the entire town of Nottawa is in chaos due to murders and deaths that Kaylee is certain were caused by the site. But when she reports her suspicions to the police, they don’t believe her. The trouble continues to grow, and Kaylee tries her best to figure out who is behind all the disasters taking place. But when her best friend is endangered due to the site, Kaylee must gather her strength and save him, before the secrets of her family and the dangers of the site catch up to her and her town and end them.

Age Rating

13+

I believe this book is appropriate for kids only 13 years and above. This is because there are some topics that kids below the age of 13 would not have been introduced to yet, such as social media dangers, animal deaths, and deaths caused by kids. There is also a lot of bad language in the book, gun violence, and the deaths are described in detail. But if you’re looking for a high-action book, this is absolutely one to read.

Good Messages

5/10

There are definitely some good messages in this book. For example, there is the lesson of sibling love, as Kaylee’s brother has kidney failure, and she tries everything she possibly can to try and get a donor for him. You can also learn about the value of family, as Kaylee mentions that her mother pays far more attention to her brother, and her father vanished a few years ago, and all she wanted was to find her father so that she could get a kidney from him for her brother. Another lesson in the book is about the dangers of social media. In this book, a social media site causes huge amounts of chaos to a town, and the disasters include deaths, and thoughts of self-harm, which indeed can be caused from social media, so it teaches kids to be careful around social media.

Violence

8/10

There is a LOT of violence in this book, and some of it is bloody and gory. For example, someone feels the need to do destruction to the town and enjoys doing it. There is an animal murder that is described in some detail, and the symptoms a child feels before dying are also described in a lot of detail. There is also a scene that has gun and knife violence in it, as well as bombs.

Language

8/10

There is quite a bit of bad language in the book. Words such as ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ are used multiple times in the book, and once or twice the word ‘ass’ shows up. There is also the usage of ‘bitch’ once.

Romance

5/10

There is romance in this book. Kaylee and her friend Nate develop feelings towards each other, and kiss once or twice. There is also another girl who has a crush on Nate and tries and succeeds to get a date with him.