Alexandra Bracken, known previously for Brightly Woven (2010), more recently published The Darkest Minds, the start of a trilogy that follows a young girl named Ruby as she is torn away from her parents at the young age of ten and is sent to a rehabilitation camp because she has special abilities most adults are afraid of.

All the surviving kids are separated in groups by color; green, blue, yellow, orange and red. The greens are great internet hackers; the blues can lift any object, such as a car; the yellows can electrocute objects; the oranges can read minds; and some reds, if not all, can control fire.

I really enjoyed this book because it gives a lot of her backstory and she goes through situations that most kids wouldn’t even imagine was possible. The PSF’s that are in charge of the rehabilitation camps do not treat the kids well, and they get punished just for speaking. Ruby ends up in one of the worst rehabilitation camps in the world for kids with special abilities. The worst camp, Thurmond, is known for bringing kids in for testing and using the kids as a lab rat.

This adventure includes the beginning of a romance as Ruby and her group of friends journey to find East River, the only safe place for kids like her.

But sometimes, things aren’t always the way they seem.

The Darkest Minds is one of the 2016 Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award nominees.