Kennedy's First Review

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Review by Kennedy Cooper

In this sci-fi fantasy, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson, Jenna Fox, a 17-year-old girl, has just woken up from a coma. Jenna doesn’t remember a thing, but soon enough memories start coming back to her. These memories are not your normal kind of memories. Jenna starts to remember almost drowning when she was only three, her baptism, and even being in her mother’s womb. Jenna starts to wonder why she is remembering these things while not even remembering her middle name. Jenna soon finds out that she isn’t (and will never be) the old, pre-accident Jenna Fox.

When Jenna wakes up from her coma, she knows very little. She knows that she used to live in Boston but is now living in California. She remembers two friends she used to have, named Kara and Locke, and she remembers her family. What Jenna doesn’t know is what happened to her and what happened to her friends. When Jenna meets Mr. Bender, her new, next door neighbor, she decides that they will be friends, because she still hasn’t any. Mr. Bender has birds that fly in and out of his garden, but they won’t land on Jenna like they do Mr. Bender.

Shortly after meeting Mr. Bender, Jenna decides she wants to go to school. At first, Jenna’s mother, who she calls Claire, is hesitant to let her go. Her father, Max, who is living in Boston to run his company, talks Claire into letting Jenna go anyways. Once Jenna arrives at school, she meets new friends. Ethan and Allys seem to be Jenna’s favorite friends. There is a boy at Jenna’s school who is different from all the rest of the kids. His name is Dane, and Jenna doesn’t care for him very much.

When Jenna accidentally cuts herself deeply, she rushes to the bathroom to clean out her cut and finds that under her thin layers of skin, she is blue. Jenna goes downstairs to her father, who explains to Jenna about the accident that she has wondered about for so long. Now, Jenna Fox knows her own secret. Her mother and father had made the decision to save Jenna’s life after the accident she wasn’t supposed to survive by using an unacceptable amount of bio gel. Jenna learns that the only part of her that is really her is only ten percent of her brain.

Jenna is illegal. Can she trust her secret with anyone? Ethan. Ethan, who’s relationship has grown with Jenna throughout the story, is the only person who Jenna tells. When Allys finds out about Jenna’s secret, she isn’t seen at school for a number of days, and is said to be out of school sick. Ethan and Jenna become worried, and go to see Allys at her house. Allys’ parents say that she has grown deathly ill, and that chances of her survival are slim. Allys tells Jenna that she is sorry, sorry for what Jenna wonders. As it turns out, Allys had told her parents about Jenna’s secret.

Is this it for Jenna? Is she going to jail? Will people kill her? What will happen to Allys? Questions are answered when Allys’s parents show up on Jenna’s doorstep.

This book is definitely a page turner. Though it is a science fiction and fantasy read, I think it also symbolizes the discovery of one’s self in teenage years. Since Jenna has lost herself after the accident, she must find herself again. I also think this book is a great story to show the development of friendship and how true friends are willing to lay themselves on the line before they will let anything happen to each other .