A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay - ADVISABLE

McKinlay, Meg  A Single Stone, 267 pages. Candlewick Press, 2017. $17.99. Language: G; Mature Content: PG; Violence: G. 

Jena leads The Line of seven village girls who are tasked with mining mica from deep inside the mountain. The mountain is respected but also feared, because years earlier the mountain shook and a rockfall closed off the only pass people had to the outside world; now Jena's village is cut off and on its own and the mica is key to their survival. The girls who are on The Line must be small and the village goes to extreme measures to ensure female children's bodies are trained and shaped to fit the mountain--a feature of life in the village that begins to bother Jena and make her question the village leaders. And then one day Jena discover a stone on the mountain unlike any she's ever found--a stone that might suggest they are not as cut off as she has been told. 

This was a quick and interesting read, and reminded me a bit of DuPrau's "City of Ember" in that you have a cut-off society and leaders who are not being 100% honest. The aspect of The Line was pretty fascinating and there was a lot more complexity to the story than one might expect in under 300 pages. The matriarchy inherent in the village and the story makes this a book that will only really appeal to girls, but its a great one for having strong female leads. There is some mature content in the nature of what the girls are put through to be able to be on the Line and one somewhat gruesome scene involving a person getting burned. 

MS, HS--ADVISABLE Reviewer: TC