Leviathan

Westerfeld, S. (2009). Leviathan. NY: Simon Pulse.

Leviathan is the first book in a trilogy series and takes place during World War I with the conflict between the Clankers who fight with the use of machines and the Darwinists who fight with technologically developed species. Clanker Prince Aleksandar’s parents are assassinated leaving him to fend for himself after his people turn on him. His only help is a small group of loyal servants who help him escape to Austria. Deryn Sharp is a hopeful girl training to be an airman and work for the British Air Service. When her airship crashes in Switzerland she comes across Prince Aleksandar as he rescues her and claims to be a Swiss villager. Suspicious of the Prince, Deryn brings him under her charge. While coming up with a plan to fix their airship, Germans spot them, which then leads Prince Aleksandar’s group and Deryn’s group to combine their technologies and flee together. This science fiction book with its air-whale machines and two-legged machine will certainly appeal to readers in grades 7 and higher. Deryn’s female character inspires hope for breaking barriers in our social norms as she longs to be a part of the British service, but knows that she must disguise herself as a man in order to do so and changes her name to Dylan Sharp. The topics of women’s equal rights and alliances among former enemies can be a start for discussions while bringing this book into the classroom setting. Students can also analyze Deryn’s determination in following her dream regardless of the inconvenience of having to pose as a man. Asking students to defend whether they believe this act was the right thing to do is another great way to engage readers in a discussion.