Divergent Party

This past Saturday I held a Divergent party to celebrate the upcoming release of Veronica Roth's final book in the trilogy, Allegiant, which comes out on October 22nd, 2013.  I had so much fun with the party and I consider it a huge success.  It was a teen program and attracted patrons aged 13-19.

The program was attended by both Divergent fans as well as teens who had never read the series.  I  took this as a great opportunity to do a quick booktalk and hopefully inspire interest in the series for those who were unfamiliar with it.  I explained it as a great readalike for Hunger Games, where the series is set in a futuristic dystopian Chicago.  The city is divided into five factions: Abnegation, the selfless; Dauntless, the brave; Erudite, the intelligent; Amity, the peaceful; and Candor; the honest.  Long ago, the government determined that it was these qualities of humanity that were necessary for society to function and therefore each citizen must be a part of one faction and act out its qualities to the utmost extent.  Some rare people, however, called the Divergent, have aptitude for more than one faction.  Tris, the main character in the series, was born into Abnegation but chooses Dauntless, after learning that she has aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite.  Having divergence for three different factions is almost unheard of and we learn that this puts Tris in great danger, but also gives her great power.

The first part of the program was to have teens take a quiz that I created, entitled "Divergent Faction Aptitude Test".  This quiz was done in a infographic style, with questions similar to the scenarios Tris faces in the first book before the Choosing Ceremony (first question: "You see two baskets in front of you: one with a knife, one with cheese.  Choose one!").  At the end of the quiz, they have the opportunity to be Divergent by coming up with an idea alternative to the choices given in the quiz.  Once their faction is determined, participants could choose an activity based on their factions.  I also gave out stickers I made for each faction so that they could wear them with pride (I, for the record, belong in Amity!).  The activities I had planned for each faction are as follows:

Dauntless: Temporary tattoo design
Erudite: Play Scrabble
Candor: Play "Would You Rather?"
Amity: Make friendship bracelets
Abnegation: Make greeting cards

Overall, the teens seemed to enjoy playing "Would You Rather?" the most.  The questions I created sparked discussion and they all got really into it.  Most people did a few different activities as opposed to just doing their faction activity, which I took as an opportunity to explain their "divergence", inspiring further conversation about the book ("Can you imagine having to be 100% honest, all the time?  Even when it hurts someone's feelings?.. etc.).  I was thrilled with that fact that not only did participants thoroughly enjoy the program, but it also got a lot of them interested in reading the series.  I, for one, am anxiously awaiting October 22nd, so that I can read Allegiant.  I never thought that I would like a series as much as Hunger Games, but Divergent is a huge contender!