Linked-by Gordon Korman

***The following book and review will have heavy topics about the neo-Nazi movement.

I am currently reading this book called Linked. I chose it because I already knew I love the author, Gordon Korman. He wrote Unplugged (a book I have read), along with many others such as: Resart, Ungifted, Unteachables, Master Mind, Swindle, Slacker, etc. I have heard from a close friend that has read quite a few of these that they are all amazing. We are here to talk about Linked though right?

Linked is set in the present day. Around the school swastikas started appearing and frightened many people. Dana Levinson the only Jewish girl in the town of Chokecherry feels the most threatened by these signs of hate. Michael Amorosa was the first student to see the swastika and he is president of the art club; this means he has all of the materials to paint a swastika. This is why he is the prime suspect. Lincoln Rowley (a.k.a Link) is the most popular guy at school, not to mention the most athletic. Everyone is turning to him to figure out who is causing the disruption in their small town.

All three kids feel strongly that this should not be occurring but none know what to do. The school decides to fight back by attempting to create over 6 million million paper links; each one standing for a Jew murdered in the Holocaust. This project is for the purpose of uniting the school and preventing the swastikas from dividing the school further. 6 million is a mind blowing number but the point of their project is to wrap their minds around how many people died.

Gordon Korman got his inspiration from the paper clip project done by eighth graders at Whitwell University in Tennesee 1988. This project was much similar to the project in Linked. The eighth graders started an after school program to learn about the Holocaust and respect other religions. Once they learned that 6 million Jews had died in the Holocaust they wanted to collect something to grasp the greatness of 6 million. They collected 6 million paper clips. The children went above their goal and received 30 million paper clips in the end! If you want to learn more about this click here.

Thank you for continuing to support my blog. I am not finished with the book but so far I am enjoying Linked. It is an easier book to just read for fun without being intimidated by the length of the book. Thank you for reading and if you are interested in this book I recommend reading the book!

This is what the school in the book was collecting!

I think you all know what paper clips are but this is what Whitwell University was collecting.