Want a hometown story? This is a great one and very short to read. Miles & his family live in Mpls. When Mt. Rainier and most of the Cascade range erupt the USA, Canada, and Russia are devastated. Ash blown into the atmosphere affects the global climate, reducing crops and killing animals. Miles' family decides it's too dangerous in their suburban neighborhood and they head north to their cabin in Bemidji via unique transportation. When they arrive, they find squatters unwilling to leave or share THEIR cabin. Miles suggests heading to Itasca to find a cabin built by a man he met in the local nursing home. Mr. Kurz gave Miles all the information necessary not only to find the cabin but also to survive in the far northern woods of Minnesota. Can he convince his family this will be the best option and will they survive?
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Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank:
Randy Bragg wants to live peacefully in his childhood home located in Fort Repose, FL. However, when his brother tells him to prepare for war, he doesn’t believe life could change. Within 24 hours, he’s taken in his brother’s family, stocked up on food and hunkered down. The night explodes and war devastates the USA. All around the city, the residents watch mushroom clouds blossom in Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa and other cities. The communication lines shut down. The last mail truck drives in and food becomes scarce. They realize their little Fort Repose is a bubble of safety from the destruction and radiation. They fight daily for survival, not knowing who has survived outside the city. Law & order disappear and paper money becomes nothing as bartering systems develop. Can they survive and rebuild?
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Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, reviewed by K. Jones (a classmate):
Miranda’s journal chronicles her busy life as a teenager: hopes for a driver’s license, fights with her mom and changing friendships. After hearing about a meteor colliding with the moon, Miranda’s life changes and she begins to wonder about her future. The asteroid creates worldwide disasters that no one could have fathomed: tidal waves, thunderstorms and volcanic eruptions. Miranda’s family is forced to make tough choices as far as stockpiling food and buying gas when they can. Nothing is a luxury anymore in this world, and Miranda begins to question if her and her family will even survive. Despite everything that happens in this novel, Miranda tries to cling to some sort of normalcy. She still wants to date her swimming teammate Dan, and she fights with her mother about everything (depending on the day). Miranda even admits through her journal entries that she does fight with her mother quite a bit, but she never gives up on loving her. Throughout the novel Miranda’s determination starts to build and one can see how dedicated she is to surviving and keeping her family alive as well. Even though Miranda and her family are faced with the worst of times, they stick together through it all.
Everyday Katniss goes out to scrounge for food for her family. With luck and skill, she can avoid arrest and gather enough editable items to sustain them yet one more day. When the time comes for each district to offer up 2 children 12-18 years old as tributes, Katniss plays her part. She even steps in to volunteer in place of her sister who is chosen in the lottery. The tribute knows that this is life and death. Every child chosen, 24 in all, will fight to the death in the Games. The winner will enjoy lifelong prosperity. The losers will die. Katniss soon learns how to manipulate the system to get rewards and necessary supplies. She even goes as far as pairing with the boy from her district in order to survive and win.
I read one of a series of books called On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony when I was in college. It was a good story written from the perspective of death (the entity not the state of)
ReplyDeleteAnother book written from the viewpoint of death is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was up for the Newbery this last year but was beat out by Neil Gaiman's Graveyard book. A Pale Horse is supposed to be very good--I'll have to add those to my list. Piers Anthony is known as one of the top pioneer sci fi writers, along with Asimov.
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