Snowglobe

In Park’s dystopian duology opener, 16-year-old Jeon Chobahm lives with the rest of the lower-class population in a treacherous environment where the average temperature is –50 °F. Actors are among the lucky few who live in Snowglobe—a climate-controlled paradise encased in a glass dome—in exchange for having their “unscripted lives recorded and edited into shows,” which are then broadcast to the masses as entertainment. Though she dreams of becoming a director and someday working on one of the reality shows, Chobahm works at the power plant to produce Snowglobe’s electricity. Days before her 17th birthday, she’s approached by Cha Seol, the director of The Goh Haeri Show, who claims that she resembles the actor who plays Goh Haeri. She persuades Chobahm to step in as the new Haeri after the actor dies by suicide, promising to assist her in her goal of becoming a director. Chobahm agrees, and as she adjusts to Haeri’s highly publicized lifestyle, she uncovers a greater conspiracy within Snowglobe. This fast-paced examination of reality television and surveillance, smoothly translated by Comfort (Plastic), boasts a cast of resourceful and morally gray teens and teems with anticipatory tension reminiscent of The Hunger Games. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sue Park, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency. (Feb.)