Book 1 Project: Matched

Are you in love with the ‘Matched’ series by Ally Condie? Do you wish you could have your very own artifact from the book? Well you’re in luck! The Matched Bundle includes Cassia’s compact, Bram’s watch, Xander’s cuff links, and Ky’s compass. Now all Matched fans can enjoy and relive the imaginative world that Ally Condie has created!

            Matched, by Ally Condie, is a story about a seventeen-year-old girl named Cassia Maria Reyes. In Cassia's society, you are matched at age 17. Cassia is matched with her best friend, Xander Thomas Carrow. This is not a surprise to either of them. When viewing the micro card with Xander's information on it, the screen displays a different friend of Cassia's, Ky Markham. Though Ky and Cassia were not as close as Xander and Cassia, she still finds herself conflicted about who she loves and whether the Society is all that it seems to be. Each member of the society is only allowed to have one artifact. Cassia was given a golden compact from her great-grandmother with “the letters ACM and the numbers 1940 carved across the golden surface.” (Condie, 5) Cassia uses the compact to hide poems and her red, green, and blue pills. Xander doesn’t have an artifact, but was lent one from his father. “He stretches out his arms in front of him and I notice that he has an artifact, too—a pair of shiny platinum cuff links. ‘My father lent me these, but you can’t put anything in them. They’re completely useless.’” (Condie, 6) Cassia’s younger brother, Bram, owns his grandfathers watch as his artifact. He received it after his grandfather died. “Bram doesn’t even know how to tell time yet. And besides, Grandfather’s watch hasn’t worked in decades. It’s nothing but a beautiful artifact. Heavy, made of silver and glass. Nothing like the thin plastic strips we wear now.” (Condie, 116) Ky owns a golden compass, which looks very similar to Cassia’s compact. “Gold, a case you can snap open and shut, but it’s definitely no my artifact. There are letters—N,E,S,W—and an arrow on the inside. It spins and spins and keeps pointing back to me.”(Condie, 169).

            This Matched Bundle will allow fans to make the most of their imagination and connect with other fans all across the globe. Anyone who orders this bundle will receive a code to sign up online as an official member of The Matched Society. Each citizen of the society can write their own endings to the book, design their own artifacts, take online quizzes such as What Province do you belong in? & What official will you become?, and find bookstores near you when Ally Condie will be signing books. They will also be able to shop and discover any more fan items created by us, or even the fans themselves! All artifacts in the bundle can also be monogrammed or personalized by color preference.

bram's watch

Ky's compass

Xander's cufflinks

Cassia's compact

Post 2: What is a book?

A book is a friend. A friend that can comfort us as readers by letting us escape to a new, different, imaginative world. A friend who lets us use our imagination to create that world, and lets us hold on to that false reality. A book is a friend, and can only be a true friend if it is a physical copy. Nacy Jo Sales stated, "There's something about the physicality of a book, the way it looks and feels and even smells--the notes witten in the margins--that makes it a living, breathing companion(who, like yourself, is actually dying). I don't think books will ever disappear for this reason: We need them too much. They remind us that we exist; they show us how we have lived." Books have sentimental value because you are able to remember them more distinctly. You might remember the smell of the picture book that you used to read as a child. With a kindle or iPad, you won't get that same effect; you might remember the imagery that the author used, or the overall plot, but you will never measure up to that freshly printed book that you received. Don't get me wrong, I do think e-books are wonderful tools. I have my own kindle and I love to use it when I'm traveling, but when I'm at school I like using a REAL book instead. I like flipping through the book to see my old annotations, especially when I'm writing an essay on the novel. Yes, you might be able to search key words or terms with your device, but can a kindle tell you where the rising action is? No. You would have to go towards the middle-end of the book and scrool until you found the section you were looking for. Books are much easier to navigate. Physical books should be kept because they are our friends and our best tools.