Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Name of Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2006

Series: Last Survivors (#1)

Age group: 12-14

Number of Pages: 337

Summary

Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.



Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

Review

First of all, I love the cover. It's entrancing and somewhat mysterious, which made me pick up this book and read it. At first, once you open the book, I thought this would just be a normal book about teenage troubles, and nearly put the book down-but I reached the conflict just in time and was shocked by the result.

I love how Miranda, the main character and her family start to realize how much family mean. They find so much happiness in little tiny gifts that they would never have appreciated so much before. So much had changed within a few months, and Miranda's family was surviving, and was better off than most families.

They were...until they started running out of food and Miranda's brothers and Mother all fell deathly ill. Suddenly Miranda's not sure if they're going to make it-and she's afraid she'll be the last one standing. Will Miranda be able to saver her family? Or will she be all alone...forever?

Rating

B+