Divergent: the book, not the movie!

Divergent by Veronica Roth is another one of those book series that is taking young readers by storm. Like the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the Maze Runner by James Dashner, Veronica Roth taps into our current fascination with a post apocalyptic scenarios that seems to leave the fate of the surviving world in the hands of a few courageous teens who seem to have the intelligence, strength and background knowledge to outsmart the evil adult attempts to take over what is left of society.

Beatrice recently turned 16 and has a very important decision to make. Which faction of society should she choose to live? The five factions have been established to divide the population into similar character traits to avoid the global conquest that destroyed their way of life years ago. The Factions have established aptitude tests to help the teens narrow down their choices before the Choosing Ceremony. The aptitude test takes the candidates through a series of moral choices to eliminate factions, and promote strengths in one specific faction.  Unfortunately, Beatrice's results are inconclusive. She is labeled Divergent by her test and warned never to share the results with anyone if she want to avoid a terrible fate.

Created by Are Bergonia for DevientART

Of course this warning haunts Beatrice throughout the story as she chooses to leave her family, and join the most reckless faction, Dauntless,  known for their bravery and risk taking. Now called Tris, or Stiff, by her enemies, Beatrice discovers that being Divergent in the faction, given the responsibility for guarding the society from an unknown enemy, has it's advantages, and draws the attention of many different faction leaders.  As the plot thickens to a climatic battle ending, it sets you up nicely for the next book in the series, Insurgent.

I have to warn you that the movie for Divergent comes out March 21.  Watch the movie trailer to get an idea of the type of story you might be getting into.  It's is pretty intense.  Now if you are like me, I recommend reading the book soon, or put off seeing the movie until later so you can finish book one.

My question is, why are these books so appealing?  The plots don't seem to change much from book to book. Are they just becoming a money making machine for mediocre authors taking advantage of a popular trend?  Do these books deserve the accolades they are receiving world wide?

The Rise of Narcissism - Is Social Media to Blame?

In recent research for my class's next debate, the topic about the effects of Social Media on our society, and specifically teens, kept coming up in the search.  I have strong opinions about today's social media.  That's not saying I am against it.  I am currently involved in a wide variety of social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Linked In, and Edmodo. I am also an active participant on various educational blogs, as well at the manager of two blogs I use in my classroom. Of all of these sites, only Facebook is used for personal communication with family or friends.  The information I receive on all of these sites are instantaneous, up-to-date, and productive to my success professionally and personally.  I have had the joy of watching my nieces and nephews grow up through Facebook, as well as improve the technology utilization in my classroom thanks to all of these great resources.  But, I am alarmed by one word that keeps coming up when it comes to the effects of these social networking sites on today's population.

Narcissism: The inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love, vanity.  Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism. (Dictionary.com)

I remember hearing this word, but narcissism remained off my radar.  I have never considered how I could use it in my every day conversation or writing.  It seems that narcissism is slowly becoming the latest catchphrase label to describe our most recent developing "Me" generation.  Who or what is to blame?