Verify Paperback – August 25, 2020

Great read makes author makes you think like always. Great way to use your mind and keep it active.

Meri misses her mother every day since an accident took her life. She also tries to emulate and understand her mother’s artwork. Meri wants to become an artist too. Her friend Rose was able to help her get an interview to be considered to participate in the City Art Program that Meri’s mother was such a big part of before her death. Meri has a successful interview but notices strange and suspicious things happening around her. Among them, she sees someone drop paper, a traitorous and wasteful act. Her curiosity gets the best of her and she thinks she’s figuring out some of her mother’s painted clues, so she goes to sights that she believes her mother meant for her to go to. She’s given a piece of paper with the word verify written on it and talked to by a young man. She eventually learns what truly happened to her mother and the underground she was a part of in the last eighteen months of her life. Meri falls down the rabbit hole! Action, intrigue and friendship pull the story along, 4 stars and I’m ready to read the sequel, Disclose.

This story brings up important questions about the value of words, information, and knowledge. It needs to be read and considered.

I really enjoyed this book once I got into it. Verify takes place in the future where technology has replaced everything that used to come in print including all books, textbooks, newspapers, magazines etc... Paper is not really used anymore for any type of writing. The government has complete control of the the content and spread of information that people are receiving. Meri, the main character--an only child, has just lost her mom who died in a car accident. Her death is still very fresh and her father is handling it by drinking too much which is affecting both of them. Her mom was an artist and seemed withdraw in the months before her death, also while be working on new paintings of different things and places around Chicago where they live. Meri is also an artist and is trying to understand the meaning behind the unfinished paintings her mom left behind. Meri is convinced that her mother's death was not as it appeared--not an accident but something much more. She starts noticing different things like papers and people around that she hadn't seen before and eventually get a hold of a paper with the word VERIFY on it. Never hearing this word before, Meri searches it on a school computer and sets off a police raid because apparently this word is off-limits to the people. Meri is mystified. She is then contacted by a young man, Atlas, who leads her into an entirely differently world underground, one filled with paper, books, quotes and words & historical events that have mysteriously disappeared from the genera population's vocabulary over the years. Meri soon finds out her mother was a part of this underground group attempting to bring back words that have meanings which the government has taken away from them and huge parts of history that the government has seemingly deleted from existence. An exciting and eventful trip through Chicago trying to find her mother and her new friend's father who has disappeared apparently part of the same government cover-up which goes deeper than Meri and Atlas originally suspected, and their fight to restore words and history to society is definitely going to be an uphill battle.... looking forward to the next book in this series as this one leaves us with a cliffhanger!

It took some time to get into the story. After about chapter 4 or 5 it took off. I willie looking for the next book

Loved this book. We've been saying for years that having books only in digital format is a gateway to changing recorded history. I liked the characters and especially enjoyed the stage that was set and the context of that stage. Highly recommend.Print is reliable. Sure, you could alter a printed text, but the expense involved makes it much less likely than altering a digital text.Words have meaning - a reliable meaning.Context is important. i.e. nothing happens in a vacuum.Don't check your brain at the door. i.e. you can do math, you can use your logicConsider the precedent. i.e. might as well take it to absurdity, because that seems to be where we end up.Consider the source. i.e. who exactly is Snopes? Do you really want them giving you advice?

Pick this up on accident looking for "Verity" and wound up reading the whole thing. An interesting and entertaining story with moral themes but not too heavy. It probably won't be on any best seller lists but I found it enjoyable.

I loved this futuristic story of a remnant underground group committed to preserving the written word and uncovering lies that are told by the government and a controlled press. In a society that believes everything, doesn't question what it is being told, and has no access to original texts and books, Meri Beckley discovers the truth. Once she does, nothing will stop her from revealing the fake news propagated by the government and news media.Joelle Charbonneau is an extraordinary storyteller, who captivates her readers with strong, relatable characters, vivid language that allows the audience to visualize what's happening, and non-stop action with mystery and intrigue. Joelle does not disappoint with this masterful, relevant, and powerful story.As a school librarian, I look forward to sharing this book with our monthly book club and having a passionate discussion with students concerning the importance of verifying the written and spoken word and preserving their right to challenge and question what is valid truth.