Author | Carrie Ryan |
---|---|
Cover artist | Jonathan Barkat |
Language | English |
Series | The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1 |
Genre | Young adult, zombie apocalypse |
Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | March 10, 2009 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 312 pp |
ISBN | 0-385-73681-9 |
OCLC | 226291601 |
Followed by | The Dead-Tossed Waves |
The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a 2009 New York Times best-selling post-apocalyptic zombie novel by first-time author Carrie Ryan that is marketed to young adults. It was published on March 10, 2009 by Random House Delacorte Press in the United States, and by Hachette Gollancz in Australia and the United Kingdom. This is the first volume of a trilogy; the second book in the series, The Dead-Tossed Waves , was released on March 9, 2010, and The Dark and Hollow Places followed in March 2011. As the story opens, an unexplained disaster has turned much of the human race into mindless, cannibalistic undead. They roam the titular forest, seeking to destroy a band of survivors barricaded inside a walled village deep in the woods. However, the fence that protects these villagers also imprisons them within a dystopian society marked by violence, secrecy, and repression. The forest thus profoundly influences all the action of the novel.
Mary lives in a town ruled by the Sisterhood and the Guardians. The village is surrounded by fences; beyond lies only forest. There are only three ways through the fence: gates that open on paths that are themselves enclosed by fencing, expelling those who've been infected. Where the two paths lead, no one knows, for the Sisterhood says the village is the only human habitation left on Earth.
Mary has been raised on stories passed down from her great-great-great-grandmother about life before the coming of zombies. She is especially fascinated by the ocean and believes if she could reach it, she would be free.
Her adventure starts when there is a breaching in the fence. Mary must escape, find true love, and friendship while figuring out the mystery behind the other gates and fences. After a sad, hectic, twisted turn of events she finds the ocean, but it isn't at all what she expected.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth debuted in the US to critical acclaim, receiving starred reviews from School Library Journal [1] and Publishers Weekly , which described the book as "fresh and riveting." [2] MTV called it "a pretty freakin' amazing, empowering and absolutely thrilling young-adult post-apocalyptic zombie love story." [3] Author and critic Bidisha selected The Forest of Hands and Teeth as one of the best books of the year for The Observer [4] and Jo Fletcher picked it as one of the most notable books of the year at the World Fantasy Convention. [5]
Seven Star Pictures optioned the film rights to The Forest of Hands and Teeth in 2009, intending to fast-track the project. [15] The film is now with Hetherwood Productions and was in production as of May 2016. [16] Maisie Williams is set to star as of September, 2015. [17] Kate Maberly will write and direct the feature with Doug Liman and Fred Roos is set to produce. [18]
Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will.
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer, known for children's and young adult novels. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for her contribution to young adult literature and 2023 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a young adult novel by Ann Brashares published in 2001. It follows the adventures of four best friends — Lena Kaligaris, Tibby Rollins, Bridget Vreeland, and Carmen Lowell, who will be spending their first summer apart when a magical pair of jeans comes into their lives, turning their summer upside down. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2005. Four sequels to the book have been published, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood; Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood; Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood; and Sisterhood Everlasting.
Ann Brashares is an American young adult novelist. She is best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.
Holly Black is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the New York Times bestselling young adult Folk of the Air series. She is also well known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, and her debut trilogy of young adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales. Black has won a Lodestar Award, a Nebula Award, and a Newbery Honor.
What Maisie Knew is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Chap-Book and in the New Review in 1897 and then as a book later that year. It tells the story of the sensitive daughter of divorced, irresponsible and narcissistic parents. The book follows the title character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity.
Aileen Francis Paterson MBE was a Scottish writer and illustrator, best known for her series of children's books about Maisie MacKenzie, the kitten.
Todd Strasser is an American writer of more than 140 young-adult and middle grade novels and many short stories and works of non-fiction, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue and T.S. Rue.
Lauren Myracle is an American writer of young adult fiction. She has written many novels, including the three best-selling "IM" books, ttyl, ttfn and l8r, g8r. Her book Thirteen Plus One was released May 4, 2010.
Maureen Johnson is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Name of the Star, Truly Devious, and Suite Scarlett. Among Johnson's works are collaborative efforts such as Let It Snow, a holiday romance novel of interwoven stories co-written with John Green and Lauren Myracle, and a series of novellas found in New York Times bestselling anthologies The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market.
Maisie Dobbs is a 2003 mystery novel by Jacqueline Winspear. Set in England between 1910 and 1929, it features the title character Maisie Dobbs, a private investigator building her business in the aftermath of the First World War. Generally well received by critics, mostly because of Maisie's quirky character, the novel was nominated for several awards and received the 2003 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. It is the first in the series of Maisie Dobbs novels.
Jennifer Archer is an author of young adult fiction or teen fiction, women's fiction and romance novels. She was born in Cleburne, north central Texas.
April Henry is an American New York Times bestselling author of mysteries, thrillers, and young adult novels.
Everlost is a fantasy book published in 2006 by the young adult author Neal Shusterman. The story is the first in the Skinjacker trilogy that takes place in Everlost, the place between life and death.
The Dead-Tossed Waves is a 2010 young adult novel by Carrie Ryan. It is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) and the second book of a trilogy. The third book to make up the trilogy is The Dark and Hollow Places (2011). It was published on March 9, 2010 by Random House Delacorte Press and is written in first person narrative, present tense from the point of view of a teen girl named Gabrielle. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic world where zombie "Mudo" wander the earth, their sole purpose to infect all living humans.
Hannah Moskowitz is an American author of young adult and middle grade novels.
Kiera Cass is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known for The Selection series.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a 2013 young adult novel by Holly Black. The book was first published on September 3, 2013, through Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and follows Tana, a teenager that believes that she has been infected with vampirism. The basis for the novel came from a short story of the same name written by Black which was released in the prose anthology Eternal Kiss. Black was inspired to use the setting and the same title to tell the story of a different character set in the same world as the short story. The book was written to be a standalone novel but Black has stated on her website, "I know what happens next and I’ve been thinking more and more that a sequel could be in my future."
Julie C. Dao is a Vietnamese-American fantasy author. She is best known for her debut novel, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, an East Asian-inspired retelling of the Evil Queen legend from Snow White, and its sequel Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix.
Anica Mrose Rissi is an American author of children's books and young adult novels. Her first book, Anna, Banana, and the Friendship Split, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2015. Her nonfiction pieces have been published by the New York Times and The Writer magazine.