This book is not for kids 12 and under. While I was reading it, I noticed there were many mentions of sex, drinking, and the characters were none too smart. I don't recommend this book for anyone looking for a good read.

Loved the book. Teens who don't like it either relate too much or too little to the subject matter. Using words in new ways - they do it all the time; no need to sugar coat the truth unless that isn't kewl. The author turned a short story into a novel about the dangers of 1. the internet 2. traveling to other planets without parents 3. being hacked by the resistance 4. the dangers of conformity 5. marketing and advertising danger 6. ultimately Capitalism, if left unchecked, will some day lead to a scenario similar to this. Parents need to teach kids moderation and appreciation.

If your child is interested in reading this book, I advise you to read at least a few pages yourself first and imagine listening to your child read it aloud with you. My twin thirteen year old twins were assigned Feed by MT Anderson as part of a reading circle for 8th grade language arts. They immediatly informed me of the inappropriate sexual content, the profusity of swear words, and their general disapointment in the pourly-written and weakly-executed storyline. Feed had been compared to other futuristic works such as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Ender's Game and has been awarded many honors. Feed does not merit such recognition. The value contained in the under-developed description of consumerism and technology of the future was hidden behind the mindboggling amount of bad words and crude references. Why is it that ever increasing numbers of teen book writers and publishers believe that our children and teens can't relate to a story unless it is filled with vulgarity? Our children and teens not only need but deserve literature that containes and models descriptive language that inspires civility, politeness, tolerence, understanding, and collaboration now and for their future. Let's be proactive and steer our kids to books that feed their minds and broaden their vocabulary in more meaningful ways.

I have to say that its not meant for anyone under 14, but parents.,, no it doesnt have ANY positive messages, but its not meant to. It's a fairly negative book. The characters are realistic and not the perfect people in your average story. Truth be told its a wonderful book, and you kid uses all the four letter words in the book and talks about sex without you kowing it anyway. Nothing will be new to them. Buy them this book, its amazing and sad and eye opening in some ways. Hell once your kid is finished you should read it too. I can not praise this book enough.

This book was assigned to my highschool as summer reading. The language and drug use is not appropriate for school use. Many of the freshman do not understand the concept of the book and only see people that mock teenagers by using slang and the word "like" too much. I think if you look past the language of the book you see that it is trying to explain the decline of knowlage due to technology. Not many people get this and are confused on why this was assigned as a school book. I also do not like how the main charater does not develop and it really leaves a grim mood on the book. I think this book would be okay for the senoirs or junoirs to read but defenately not all four grades.

over 150 uses of the f-bomb and sh-bomb, plus numerous other profanities, not laced, but drenched in the language. There are many other books with the same themes and messages but are not profanity laced. According to some of these posts all you have to do is listen to your teens to see that this is how they speak. I work in a high school and have teenagers in my home. Not all speak like this. Why do we need to drench them in filth to show them that filth is not good for them? There are too many other examples of good, enobling, enriching stories for our students to be spending time on. Like the Emperor's Clothes this drivel ultimately be shown for being nothing more than a sham - the latest attempt to 'wow' us because they can use bad language and everyone is standing around saying how wonderful it is. Take the language out and it is still a stupid story -- it is not uplifting, at the end you don't care about the characters, because they don't care about themselves either.

Parents are commenting on this book as being negative for the references the author uses. Too bad they are in denial of real life events. At age 14, I'm pretty sure most kids know about sex and drugs and no, not every kid in the book in doing these things. The book brings up extreme circumstances of comsumerism and the world ours is going to end up if we continue in our ways. This book, if read with common sense and logic, is very eye opening and the slang terms they use are to make the book simulate our culture and the way teens use slang daily, as well as foul language.

I read 1984, which is a lot like this book, except not so scary. For the first 3/4 of the book, I was enjoying it. The way that the author extrapolated on current trends in language was funny, "like" has replaced "says," and the descriptions of America in the future were sad and interesting. But in the last couple chapters the way that the book shows America and the world and the characters live falling apart makes it for older readers. Kids are not really bothered at all by swear words and making out. We hear worse at school every day. But the darkness and absurdity of the last sections make this for readers more mature then me. I can't believe that the reviews I've read just focus on F-Bombs and not what the book is actually saying about the future.

I am 15 and I had to read this as a summer reading book. I dont suggest this book to anyone, its message is off, it doesnt have a CLEAR message and even kids my age wont understand it, you have to be mature to understand the message it brings, otherwise people just conceive it as how the future will end up tragic. It didnt motivate me, and it was a little confusing, I didnt have a clear image of the book. Its not going to motivate kids, its just going to give them a terrifying look on the future. I got even a little angry at the main character. It seemed like he only said some last minute words to Violet, because he knew she'd like them, but I never got the notion that he actually learned something. Violet said he was smart, but that's what she SAID, I never saw it.