Bubble World

I almost didn't read this book because of some of the reviews on here, and that will teach me for putting stock in reviews. I must have read five that said this was for middle schoolers. No way.
This book uses surface shallowness to get to the heart of some very deep issues: body confidence, self confidence, the value of other people's opinions, how your parents treat you, what is “real”, and much more. The only thing that I wished Snow had touched on more here was the value of education. Of course, I'm an adult with an education so that matters to me, but poor Freesia really has the equivalent of an eighth grade education here.
Most interesting is the whole product of the environment study going on here. For example, students of Avalon have invented their own language, morals, and standards. Their pasts have been repressed, the only adult figures present are fake, and the kids have complete control of their world (minus the agreement to “earn” money for attending classes to curtail shopping).

I think this book rocked. I knew going in what was going to happen halfway through because of the reviews and because of the foreshadowing, but I read along looking forward to it. Snow could have bored people to death with Avalon, but instead invents fantastic things to make it more interesting. Yes, Fressia and Jelissa talk like Valley Girls, but how cool is the zipline to school?
The real world, in contrast, is stark and almost painful. I also appreciated the correlations between the virtual state of Bubble World vs the contraption we use in the real world to make it more virtual (cellphones, video chat, automated voices, etc. This was a smart read, with a great many jumping off points into great discussions for a book club.