Product Review

Sometime in the near future, the U.S. government discovers that it doesn't have enough money to cover Social Security and Medicare. Thus are born the new Senior Laws. These are aimed at making sure no one lives much past age sixty-five. The Diminished Culpability Act, for example, states that if you kill someone aged twenty-one, you go to prison for life. But if you kill a seventy-year-old you only get two years in the slammer and for an eighty-year-old you only have to do two weeks of community service.

This has alarmed the spirit world, from where our ancestors watch over us. In particular, the old gods of Africa are outraged by the lack of respect given to the elderly. Being spirit, they can do nothing physical, but they can recruit the living. They select five seniors to correct the situation. These five must elude capture and figure out a way to take over the government. The subject is serious, but the story is hopeful, upbeat and wickedly funny. This is an adult book.

Nancy Farmer has won the National Book Award and three Newbery Honors.