These links show the original reading lists. Inclusion is not a guarantee of suitability for your child.
Kathryn Clark - Author
A tense, emotionally serious science-fiction mystery about desperate choices, hidden exploitation and sibling love. Its strongest appeal is the combination of a threatening facility, ethical questions and contrasting prose and poetry voices.
Calico and Asha enter cryogenic treatment in the hope of future recovery, while the facility’s research practices and information are presented as troubling.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: The story clearly examines who should make decisions about bodies and healthcare, and whether people have enough information to consent.
Talk about: What information and power does each person have when making a medical choice?
Family love and grief
Calico’s determination to save Asha continues after Asha’s death and shapes the choices that bring Calico into the cryogenics programme.AmbiguousAmbiguous: the book leaves its position open to more than one reasonable reading.Ambiguous: the book leaves its position open to more than one reasonable reading.
How the book presents it: The devotion is emotionally central and treated with seriousness, while the story also asks what sacrifice can cost and whether letting go might be better.
Talk about: When can devotion support someone, and when might it make clear judgement harder?
Environmental and social futures
Calico wakes in a post-climate-catastrophe future with limited technology inside a decaying, rule-bound research facility alongside other teenage test subjects.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: The future setting raises questions about environmental, political and social choices, alongside how institutions treat vulnerable people.
Talk about: What responsibilities might people have to one another after environmental and social systems change?
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Why It May Be Worth Reading
It could prompt thoughtful discussion about consent, bodily autonomy, medical decision-making and how love can shape risky choices. The future setting also invites reflection on trust, environmental change and responsibility.
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What Deserves Attention
Approach it as a dark, idea-rich mystery rather than a straightforward adventure. A parent may wish to check in around the treatment of illness, death, violence, suicide references and reproductive coercion.
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A Conversation Worth Having
How does Calico’s devotion influence her judgement, and whether does the story distinguish loving someone from having the right to decide about their body or healthcare?
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Reading Approach
Before reading, mention that the story explores death, illness and frightening medical situations. During or afterwards, invite the reader to pause over consent and trust, without needing to settle the book’s moral questions immediately.
Confidence & Basis
Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.
What remains unconfirmed
Consent and medical power: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Family love and grief: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Environmental and social futures: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Suitabook