Rash by Pete Hautman
Dystopias. I don’t know why they are so intriguing, but they are. In Rash, the country has become ultra safe. Violence of any kind is illegal as well as anything that could lead to violence. Shouting insults, name calling, and racial slurs can land you in jail. No one competes in anything athletic without safety gear; for example running track requires helmets, knee pads, special shoes, etc, while sports like football are, of course, illegal. Most fast food has been banned—too unhealthy—and the seriously overweight are labeled self-abusers and sent to jail. With all these extra laws, 24% of all adults are in prison. People don’t see that as a problem because they need prisoners to do all manual labor for society. Bo’s anger management problems land him in jail as a teenager. He may be able to improve his prison conditions if he can prove himself on the football field and survive the maniacal warden’s obsession with the banned sport.

Read about the author's inspiration for the novel on his website. Other film and books depicting dystopias include: Uglies and Pretties, The Parable of the Sower, The Matrix, 1984, Shade’s Children, The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, A Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale, Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083, Green Boy, Useful Idiots, Logan’s Run, and Blade Runner.