Two starred reviews!

A teen uses her art to protest injustice and galvanize others to resist in this suspensefullyrical (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) near-future dystopian novel about girls finding their voices in the darkest of times, perfect for fans of The Grace Year.

The whole world rested on a single bees wingsuntil that last honeybee died, and the balance of the universe tipped. Now, famine and war rage across the land. People are no longer allowed to read or create art. They are forbidden to believe in the existence of love.

Like every other girl, Jess has been taken from her home to live in a government dormitory, where they are forced to pollinate crops by hand with brushes. But unlike the others, Jess knows how to read and paintand she knows that brushes arent meant for pollinating.

Jess is her mothers daughter, with a strong streak of rebellion that even the harshest punishment cant stamp out. She knows there is something horribly wrong with this system built on the hard labor of young girls, a system that forces them to marry and have children as soon as they are able. With smuggled paints and brush in hand, can Jess inspire a revolution?