Over the past several months, I have grown as a reader. I’m not on literary tour of classic novels, or — finally — committing to reading every book I own. The books on my night-stand, in my purse, open as I drink my morning tea, have been 2016 debuts.

Reading books by friends in my debut author group means reading books I might not normally pick up. Normally, I avoid horror fiction, but I adored Kali Wallace’s book SHALLOW GRAVES. While I read the occasional mystery, I fell head over heals for Brittany Cavallaro’s Sherlock Holmes update, A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE.

What I’ve learned is that, more often than I like to admit, I had been judging books by their genre.

I was raised on Star Trek and Doctor Who, but when it comes to science fiction, I usually go for tried and true authors: Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. LeGuin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Frank Herbert. If it weren’t for my debut author group, I would not have tried Jennifer Bardsley’s wonderfully inventive YA science fiction novel, GENESIS GIRL.

Available at Indiebound.

GENESIS GIRL has a stunning concept that builds on our contemporary obsession with the internet, physical appearances, and advertising.

Blanca is a Vestal. She has spent most of her life in a tech-free school. Her picture has never been taken and shared on the internet. Her personal likes and dislikes have never been tracked, bought, or sold by companies or analytic firms. On the eve of her graduation from Tabula Rasa School, Blanca has one dream — to be bought by a firm and serve as the face, body, and soul of its media campaigns. But before she can graduate, an intruder snaps her photograph, spinning Blanca into a life where she must learn make her own, difficult decisions.

GENESIS GIRL just had its publication date moved up from fall to spring. Look for it on June 14. Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Eighteen-year-old Blanca has lived a sheltered life. Her entire childhood has been spent at Tabula Rasa School where she’s been protected from the Internet.

Blanca has never been online and doesn’t even know how to text. Her lack of a virtual footprint makes her extremely valuable, and upon graduation, Blanca and those like her are sold to the highest bidders.

Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeals are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is. All those mind-numbing years locked away from society have made her mind almost impenetrable.

By the time Blanca is ready to think for herself, she is trapped. Her only chance of escape is to go online.

Author Jen Bardsley blogs at The YA Gal.

Recommended for high school and up.

Who will like it?

• Fans of science fiction.
• Readers who enjoy books that critique modern culture.
• Adventure and mystery lovers.

What will readers learn about?

• The value of thinking for oneself.
• How the internet can negatively impact relationships.
• The effects of living in an extremely controlled society.

The poem I’m pairing with GENESIS GIRL is a challenging one, but it will give mature teens who enjoy the social criticism aspects of this novel something to chew on. Take a look at the way personification is used to great effect in Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “Advertisement.”

BY WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA

TRANSLATED BY STANISŁAW BARAŃCZAK AND CLARE CAVANAGH