Code Orange

Cooney, Caroline B. Code Orange. Delacorte Press; 2005. ISBN: 0385732597.

Summary:
Mitchell Blake, Mitty for short is a junior at St. Raphael's private school in New York City. He lives with his parents in a downtown apartment and they escape to the 'country' in Connecticut each weekend. Up until this year Mitty has been a good student, not stellar, but respectable. Teenage rebellion has set in, Mitty is not difficult or getting into trouble, he is just blowing off school. Advance Biology has a research paper due in a few weeks and Mitty hasn't picked his topic yet. Olivia Clark is in Advanced Biology, she is smart, studious and likes Mitty. If Mitty fails this assignment he will be taken out of the advanced class and put into regular Biology; a regular class without Olivia. At the Blake's country house, Mitty finds an old medical book with two scab samples of smallpox in an envelope dated 1902. Mitty removes them and handles the scabs to satisfy his curiosity. Now he has a topic for his research paper about the history and current status of a disease. After spending time researching smallpox, Mitty realized he may have caught it from handling the scab samples. Unsure what to do Mitty weighs his options and his moral responsibility to himself, his family, and New York City.

Critical Evaluation:
This book was published four years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The story's setting is in New York City and the reality of the attacks are ever present in the telling of the story. Mitty is a likable protagonist. He is self assured, but not cocky and a great representation of how a teen lives in New York City. As a typical teen in his own way Mitty is impatient with his parents, secretive about his life, and head over heels for Olivia Clark in Advanced Biology. The author treats the story realistically with the ending being believable and exciting at the same time. Mitty's character doesn't go through a dramatic change emotionally, nor does he suddenly find maturity. The story's time frame is only about two weeks. The changes that take place in Mitty are the result of facing death and reevaluating your life. This book will cause teens to think beyond themselves and their immediate surroundings. Yes, there are people in this world who want to harm Americans. This is an everyday fact for today's youth. Learning to have an effect on the circumstances you can control and letting go of the rest is not always an easy lesson for teens or adults.

Reader's Annotation:
What if you had the ability to infect more than half of the population? Would you hide at home or go out in public?

Bibliotherapeutic Uses:
It is easy to say, "If this situation happens, this is how I would react." But, do we really know how our bodies and minds will respond until the moment of truth? Books that make us think through pretend situations help us deal with real problems when they come along.

Genre:
Science Fiction/Adventure

Why I Include This Book:
I was fascinated by the premise.