The Storyteller Squad

What If Language Was Forbidden?

I can’t help it; I love dystopian fiction. I know all fiction stories are stories that are in the land of What-If, but I do love a story set in a future where What If Something Happened that Changed Everything.

The List is set in a world where the Earth experienced a catastrophic melting of the ice caps, and the last known safe city is a place call Ark. The leader of Ark, John Noa, determined that the reason the Earth was destroyed was because of the careless use of language. Therefore everyone in Ark must speak List, a language of only 500 words.

Everyone except for Letta. Letta is the apprentice to the Wordsmith, the only person allowed to know and catalog all the words used in the time before. She knows many forbidden words, words like “music” and “pineapple” and “ladybug.”

But one day her master disappears, and Letta is now the new Wordsmith. John Noa tells her she must shorten List to fewer words. And then Letta meets a teenage boy who knows forbidden words, and she realizes she has to make a choice: participate in the elimination of language or follow a stranger on a journey that could mean freedom for everyone.

I loved this book the same way I loved The Giver by Lois Lowry. The story reminds us to be cautious of ideas that seem like they are for the benefit of all, but could really lead to a life of subjugation.

Victoria Kimble

Victoria is a wife, a mom to three girls, a full-fledged homebody, a so-so housekeeper, a mediocre musician and has dreamed of writing her whole life. She lives at the foot of the Rockies in Littleton, Colorado and she will never take that for granted. She has spent most of her life living in Colorado, with a brief six-year hiatus to live in Nebraska to attend college and get married. She is mostly a stay-at-home mom, but dabbles in a variety of other odd jobs, such as doing admin work and crocheting beard hats in the winter. She loves meat and potatoes, superhero TV shows and movies, and when the weather stays between 70 and 80 degrees. She could probably love the beach if she ever spent any time there.

Victoria spent her childhood reading and making friends with the characters in her favorite books. She never grew out of that. After many years of wondering, she decided it was time to write the stories she had always dreamed of writing. She hopes that her stories model an active Christian lifestyle, while feeding the insatiable sense of wonder and adventure that everyone has deep inside.

2 comments

  • Oooo…this book sounds fascinating! Thanks for sharing! The Giver is one of my all-time-favorite books. I love books with that same “what if” kind of feel…so fun to imagine how one “idea” can change everything…

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