Hello faithful readers. This review was actually the VERY FIRST review I posted to pixie stix, and I wrote it first because it was one of my favorite books last year. Unfortunately, that meant that it went up before anyone was regularly reading, and so it has gotten lost.

So, I am bringing it back one more time, BECAUSE IT’S THAT GOOD! It will even keep adults up late–I lost sleep over it–and it’s a great choice for teen book clubs. Go get this book!

Life as We KNew It

Life As We Knew It

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Harcourt, October 2006, $17.00 HC

0-15-205826-5

Core Audience: Most obvious audience is girls 14+ but should be hand sold to boys because it’s so compelling

Strengths: Authentic writing, vivid post-apocalyptic scenario that will be an eye-opener for modern teens

Young readers today are so used to the comfort of technologies such as cell phones, e-mail, cable television, and the internet that most of them never stop to think about how vulnerable these luxuries are. Let alone things like electricity, food in the supermarket, gas at the gas station, and medical care at the local hospital. What I loved about this book is how effectively it shows how a breakdown in society can slowly strip away our creature comforts one by one until we are reduced to our most basic instincts for survival.

When an asteroid hits the Moon and pushes it closer to the Earth, the environmental catastrophe that results will change life on the planet forever. Unlike typical disaster movies like War of the Worlds or Independence Day, the believability of this book comes from the fact that the events take place over many months, and chronicle what a disaster might look like from the perspective of one family in one community. Told through the diary entries of a normal teen, this novel is so authentically written and so compelling that once you get into it, it will be hard to put it down. Even better, when you do put it down, it will take a few minutes to pull yourself back from the sense of impending disaster that this book will evoke in you. Ultimately, this book delivers a positive message about self-reliance and hidden strength, and it is one of my top picks for the year. Not only is it a great story, but it has an important message to send to young readers about not taking life for granted.

Rated: 9.0

Booksense.com

Order this book from your local independent bookstore