The Chosen
Overview
In this sequel to Survivor, Darcy Wills feels the pressure. Her best friend, Tarah Carson, has grown distant and hostile since the start of the school year. And a medical crisis in Darcy’s family has stress boiling over at home. When surprising news forces Darcy to look at the future beyond Bluford High, she realizes huge decisions are looming. Unsure what to do but unable to avoid what’s coming, Darcy has no easy options. Her choices will cut both ways. Some doors will open, but others may close forever.
More information
What is the Bluford Series? A Gateway to Reading!
The Bluford Series is a collection of high-interest novels that have captivated teens nationwide. Set in fictional Bluford High, a tough but nurturing inner city high school, the novels speak to the interests, struggles, and concerns of today’s 5th–10th graders. Praised by faculty, parents, and students alike, the Bluford Series has transformed entire classrooms into reading zones. A frequent choice for school- and city-wide reading initiatives, the series has been widely reviewed in the Journal for Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL) and repeatedly endorsed by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).
Key Features of the Bluford Series
Relevant topics: Topics, themes, and situations in the Bluford Series engage students’ real-life experiences. By having direct relevance to students’ lives, the books immediately hook readers.
Exciting and uplifting stories: The Bluford Series celebrates teenage characters who make positive choices, especially when such actions are difficult or unpopular. Readers become emotionally engaged in each character’s struggle and often cheer in triumph when it is resolved!
Common Core Aligned: The Bluford Series features a comprehensive teacher's guide that includes a wide range of activities aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Used together, the Bluford Series and the teacher's guide are a powerful Language Arts resource for students. Get details about the Bluford Series and the Common Core Standards.
Accessible writing style: Bluford novels are written to appeal to intermediate readers. While content in the series is sophisticated enough for high-school students and beyond, the reading level for the novels is between 5th and 6th grade.
Short length: Each novel in the Bluford Series contains fewer than 200 pages. This modest length encourages readers to finish their book. And once they read one, most students want to continue—a pivotal step toward becoming regular readers!
Continuity and depth: While each novel stands on its own, many characters and conflicts carry over from book to book. Readers are drawn into a complex fictional world they want to explore.
Broad appeal: Action, suspense, mystery, and romance fill the pages of the Bluford Series, offering something for all readers—boys and girls alike.
Great price: Every novel in the Bluford Series is available at $3 each—an unbeatable value!
Karyn Langhorne Folan
Karyn Langhorne Folan graduated from Harvard Law School a couple of years ahead of President Obama. After practicing and teaching law for several years, Karyn decided to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. She is the author of many books, including three for the Bluford Series, four romance novels and two works of nonfiction.
Paul Langan
Born in Philadelphia, Paul Langan spent his early childhood in the city before moving with his single mother to southern New Jersey. There he attended public school and worked a variety of jobs—including salesperson at a shoe store, attendant at a horse ranch, landscaper at a mental hospital, and a night-shift stockperson in a warehouse store near Atlantic City. “Each job,” he says today, “could be the topic of several juicy novels.”
In 1991, he enrolled at Camden County College and a year later transferred to La Salle University, where he studied creative writing and literature, earning a B.A. in English. While at La Salle, he lived with international students, traveled to his roommate’s home in Kenya, became a prison tutor, and found “the courage” to write.
After graduation, he worked for a nonprofit agency in Philadelphia and then joined Townsend Press (TP) as an Assistant Editor. After he contributed to a number of TP textbooks and taught English at a community college, Paul reconnected to his interests in creative writing through the Bluford Series. Originally working as an assistant with the Bluford novels, Paul’s role steadily grew. He now serves as both editor of the series and author or coauthor of several novels, including The Bully, The Gun, and The Fallen. His stories reflect his personal experiences, including the difficulties of growing up without a father, being the “new kid” in school, and dealing with the loss of a loved one.
In 2001, Paul completed a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to expanding the Bluford Series, he dreams of writing a successful movie script, preferably a “supernatural thriller.” Today Paul lives with his wife and three children near Philadelphia and stubbornly clings to the hope that he will one day see the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl.
You may contact Paul by writing to him at:
Paul Langan
Townsend Press
439 Kelley Drive
West Berlin, NJ 08091