50 Fun Facts About Unwind

In Neal Shusterman's Unwind, the Second Civil War that reshapes America is fought over which issue?

Abortion split the country until both armies accepted a grim compromise: every pregnancy must go to term, but a troublesome teenager can later be given up.

In Unwind, what are the suicide bombers who carry liquid explosive in their bloodstream called?

Clappers set themselves off by bringing their hands together hard, which is why a burst of applause can start a stampede in the novel's world.

The Graveyard in Unwind, a desert refuge for runaway teenagers, is a storage ground for what?

Retired airplanes fill the Graveyard, and the teenagers earn their keep by stripping them for parts while sleeping in the empty cabins.

Which animal is tattooed on the arm Connor Lassiter receives from his rival Roland in Unwind?

A tiger shark comes with the limb, grafted on against Connor's will after an explosion crushes his own, so he must wear his enemy's mark.

In the Unwind chapter that follows Roland's unwinding step by step, he is in what state throughout?

Fully conscious and feeling no pain, he is dismantled from the feet upward over three hours, with the brain left until last.

Which injury from an explosion makes Risa Ward legally exempt from being unwound in Unwind?

Paralysis protects Risa because the law forbids unwinding the disabled, so she turns down a new spine to keep that shield.

What is a child like Lev Calder in Unwind, raised to be unwound as a religious offering, called?

A tithe is a family's one-in-ten gift: Lev's parents give a tenth of everything to their church, and he is the youngest of ten children.

By what reasoning does the law in Unwind claim that an unwound teenager never actually dies?

Their parts all live on in other people, the law argues, since 99.44 percent of every unwound body must be put to use.

What nickname does the media give Connor Lassiter in Unwind after he causes a highway pile-up?

The Akron AWOL becomes a folk hero whose legend grows with every retelling, which later makes harvest camp staff eager to be rid of him.

Risa Ward's talent on which instrument earns her a place in the harvest camp band in Unwind?

Piano keeps Risa alive for a while: the band plays on the roof of the unwinding clinic as others are led inside, and its members are spared while they perform.

Which set of constitutional amendments ends the Second Civil War in Unwind and legalizes unwinding?

The Bill of Life protects every child from unwinding until thirteen, then lets a family sign that same child away during the teenage years.

What does Unwind call the legal practice of leaving an unwanted newborn on a stranger's doorstep?

Storking obliges whoever finds the baby to raise it, unless the mother is caught in the act, in which case she must keep the child.

What are the officers who hunt down runaway teenagers marked for unwinding called in Unwind?

Juvey-cops knew about the Graveyard all along, and left it alone because it kept hundreds of runaways off the streets and out of their way.

Why is fifteen-year-old Risa Ward, a ward of an Ohio state home, sent to be unwound in Unwind?

To cut orphanage costs is the only reason given: Risa has done nothing wrong, and she hears the news a week after performing at a recital.

What medical emergency strikes the Admiral during the riot at the Graveyard in Unwind?

A heart attack fells him, and even then he refuses a replacement taken from an unwound teenager, insisting on old-fashioned surgery instead.

How does Lev Calder create a diversion at the high school in Unwind after reporting Connor and Risa?

He pulls the fire alarm out of guilt, and in the stampede that follows he is separated from the pair he has just betrayed.

Which act from his past drives the Admiral in Unwind to shelter runaway teenagers at the Graveyard?

Having his own son unwound was expected of him as one of the founders of the unwinding law, and he has regretted it ever since.

Runaway teenagers in Unwind are safe from being unwound once they reach which birthday?

Their eighteenth birthday ends the danger, which is why the Graveyard's rules warn residents that at that age they cease to be the Admiral's concern.

How does Neal Shusterman tell the story of Unwind across its many short chapters?

From shifting points of view, the chapters move between the three runaways and even passing figures such as a police officer and a young mother.

Unwind author Neal Shusterman also wrote episodes of which 1990s children's horror TV series?

Goosebumps is one of several screen credits for the novelist, who also wrote for Animorphs and scripted the Disney Channel movie Pixel Perfect.

Which antique dealer in Unwind hides runaway teenagers in the basement beneath her store?

Sonia is nicknamed the Dragon Lady by the teenagers she shelters, yet she is the first link in the chain of safe houses that saves them.

What must each runaway do before leaving the antique store safe house in Unwind?

Write a letter to someone they love, the owner insists; she keeps each one unopened and posts it only if its writer never returns to collect it.

Which urban legend in Unwind has a couple hunting everyone who received their unwound son's parts?

Humphrey Dunfee is the horror story the runaways swap on a sleepless night in hiding, and the novel's last chapter shows the truth is far gentler.

What are the five trusted teenagers who help the Admiral run the Graveyard in Unwind called?

The Goldens are all found dead midway through the story, and the discovery of their desert graves turns the camp against its protector.

Why is Roland unwound ahead of Connor Lassiter at the harvest camp in Unwind?

His rare blood type puts him in demand, a bitter twist for the boy who handed his companions to the police and was arrested with them.

Besides a new arm, which body part does Connor Lassiter have replaced after the explosion in Unwind?

An eye is replaced along with the limb, and neither was his choice: both operations are done without his consent, under a dead man's name.

Which job does Risa Ward earn at the Graveyard in Unwind after first being put on dishwashing duty?

Medic was not the first plan: with no instrument for her to play, the leaders had made her a dishwasher until she treated a boy's bloody nose.

What nickname do harvest camp teenagers in Unwind give the clinic where unwinding is carried out?

The Chop Shop is soundproofed, and a band of residents is made to play music on its roof as each teenager is walked inside.

What is the name of the harvest camp in Unwind where Connor and Risa are sent to be unwound?

Happy Jack sits among pine forest, where the staff wear Hawaiian shirts and a tall flowering hedge hides the barbed wire.

Which compulsion plagues CyFi in Unwind because part of his brain came from an unwound boy?

Shoplifting was the donor's habit, and the urge leads CyFi to a suitcase of stolen jewelry the boy had buried in his family's backyard.

What other name does Unwind give the second American civil conflict that ends with legal unwinding?

The Heartland War had three sides, with what remained of the military standing between the two armies and brokering the peace.

Which girlfriend backs out of running away with Connor Lassiter at the start of Unwind?

Ariana agrees to flee with him and then stays home on the night, so Connor stows away in a big rig at a rest stop on his own.

Which clergyman in Unwind shocks Lev Calder by telling him to run rather than be unwound?

Pastor Dan is riding with the family to the harvest camp when he says it, and he is the visitor who brings Lev news in detention at the end.

To which Missouri city does CyFi lead Lev Calder in Unwind, pulled by another boy's memories?

Joplin was home to the unwound boy whose brain tissue CyFi carries, and the pair follow railroad tracks to get there.

Which color word describes CyFi in Unwind, where it has replaced 'Black' as a racial term?

Umber is paired in the novel with sienna, the word its society uses for white people; both are names of earth pigments used by painters.

How are the runaways in Unwind packed for the final leg of their journey to the Graveyard?

Sealed in crates in total darkness, a few to each box, the boys pass the journey debating souls and what unwinding really does to a person.

A nurse in Unwind saves Connor Lassiter by giving him the identity of a dead man with which job?

Security guard Elvis Mullard was too old to be unwound, so waking up under his name puts Connor beyond the law's reach.

Which later novel earned Unwind author Neal Shusterman a National Book Award?

Challenger Deep follows a teenager's slide into schizophrenia, a story the author based on his own son.

In which New York City borough was Unwind author Neal Shusterman raised before moving abroad?

Brooklyn was home until his family left the country when he was sixteen, a move he says gave him a fresh perspective and new confidence.

Which novel is the first sequel to Unwind, continuing the story of Connor, Risa and Lev?

UnWholly arrived five years after the original and was followed by two more novels and a collection of novellas.

Which teacher in Unwind helps Connor and Risa slip away and later takes in their rescued baby?

Hannah finds the pair hiding in a lab with the baby, walks them out among the students and directs them toward the first safe house.

In what kind of vehicle are the runaways in Unwind smuggled away from the antique store safe house?

An ice cream truck carries them off hidden in the back, the first of several vehicles that pass them from one hiding place to the next.

Which employee of the Admiral in Unwind confesses, as he dies, to killing five teenage leaders?

Cleaver was trusted by the Admiral while secretly recruiting teenagers for his own cause, and his dying words clear Roland, the rival Connor had blamed.

Which estranged older brother of Lev Calder seeks custody of Lev at the end of Unwind?

Marcus had spoken out against giving Lev up as a sacrifice from the very start, and the family disowned him.

What name is given to the abandoned baby Connor Lassiter picks up from a doorstep in Unwind?

Didi is first the alias Risa uses while talking a stranger into donating clothes, and the name is later passed on to the baby.

Which asthmatic boy in Unwind is sent away from the Graveyard to meet the Admiral's wife?

Emby is short for M.B., or Mouth Breather, and his one transplanted lung is the reason the Admiral singles him out.

What are Native Americans called in the Unwind series, a name tied to their history of running casinos?

ChanceFolk is one of the novel's invented labels for its future America, alongside new color words that have replaced 'Black' and 'white'.

Which companion novella to Unwind follows Lev Calder's stay on a Native American reservation?

UnStrung fills the gap between Lev leaving CyFi and reaching the Graveyard, and was co-written with Michelle Knowlden.

With what weapon, taken from a police officer, does Connor Lassiter shoot that officer in Unwind?

A tranquilizer gun knocks the officer out with his own dart, the act that turns an ordinary runaway into a wanted name on the news.

In which desert state is the Graveyard, the runaways' refuge in Unwind, located?

Arizona holds both ends of the story: the refuge lies in its desert, and the harvest camp of the climax sits on a pine-covered ridge in its north.