Author: Eva Gray
Source: My work library
Goodreads Summary:
In a terrifying future world, four girls must depend on each other if they want to survive.
Louisa is nervous about being sent away to a boarding school -- but she's excited, too. And she has her best friend, Maddie, to keep her company. The girls have to pretend to be twin sisters, which Louisa thinks just adds to the adventure!
Country Manor School isn't all excitement, though. Louisa isn't sure how she feels about her new roommates: athletic but snobby Rosie and everything's-a-conspiracy Evelyn. Even Maddie seems different away from home, quiet and worried all the time.
Still, Louisa loves CMS -- the survival skills classes, the fresh air. She doesn't even miss not having a TV, or the internet, or any contact with home. It's for their own safety, after all.
Or is it?
My Thoughts:
I read this book while researching and reviewing dystopian
book for the K-5 library I work in. Our 3rd – 5th graders
are always asking if we have Hunger Games, and we don’t. That trilogy is at the
middle school, we just feel the content is a bit too old for our kids. 6th
grade though, they can try it out, and one of the 5th grade teachers
has a couple copies in her room that are available to students, so that is an
option as well. However, I am on a mission to have a few books that will
interest these Hunger Games seeking readers, and Behind the Gates in the first
I have read in my quest.
I really enjoyed it! Much more than I thought I would,
actually. The story focuses on four roommates: Louisa, Maddie, Rosie, and
Evelyn. They were all shipped out to school, as per the custom of their time,
away from their parents. They are sent
to Country Manor School, which is for rich kids, but their parents do not know
where the school is located. For their safety. There is a war going on, and
everything is “for their safety”.
The four girls are
very different, even though Maddie and Louisa have known each for years and are
best friends. The school is a not what they expected or what they are used to.
There are a few regular academic classes, but there are also survival classes,
where they learn to use a gun or tie a knot, or how to survive in the
wilderness. Louisa really is enjoying her classes, as is Rosie, but Evelyn thinks
something is shady, while Maddie just plain hates it. It sounds as if in their
lives back home, they did not get to go outside much, so that is another aspect
that Louisa and Rosie like – the fresh air and being outdoors. I would crave
that too, if I had to be cooped up inside all the time.
Slowly, things start to happen that make Evelyn more
suspicious, and finally the one thing that Louisa feared most happens – and the
four girls have to work together to find an answer.
I think this book perfectly suits my needs, and I am excited
to add it to the list of books to suggest to my young dystopian fans. I
actually liked it myself, so much so that I am about to start the second book
in the series, Run for Cover.
