Guy Montag is a typical fireman. When the station receives a call, the alarm sounds and he steps into action. However, instead of putting out fires, Montag is the one to start them. During this time when books are considered dangerous, even the simple act of owning one can get someone thrown in jail. Being a good fireman, Montag just does his job and doesn’t question the book burning. After meeting a young woman who does not conform to socially accepted thought and a chance encounter with a woman who would rather die than see her books burned, Montag begins to question the “typical.” Suddenly, it becomes difficult for him to remember why he is burning books and jailing citizens. As he examines his life, Montag must decide what is important and what is worth saving. Fans of George Orwell will delight in this gripping thought-provoking read.
Recommended by Carrie Shaurette, Librarian.
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Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.---from the publisher
249 pages 978-1451673319 Ages 15 and up
Keywords: First Amendment rights, books, censorship, media, television, social media, 15 year old, 16 year old, 17 year old, main character male, classic
