As the sons of an avid survivalist, 13-year-old John Lockwood and his younger brother, Stewart, know how to cope with any doomsday scenario.  Not that they'll really need their father's advice about boiling toilet water and using yucca leaves to wash their clothes.  After all, Dad has stocked their home with enough supplies to last for two apocalypses.  The three of them can ride out any disaster in their isolated desert house, no problem.  

Then the power goes out—and stays out—while Mr. Lockwood is out of town.  No one knows what's going on, but it soon becomes clear to John that he and Stew are on their own.  Although John is concerned, he doesn't start to panic until a group of strangers invades his home, robbing the boys of all their food, water, and emergency supplies.  With no other choice, Johan and Stew are forced to stuff what little they have left into into their backpacks and set off across the desolate Nevada desert.  Help lies 96 miles away at the ranch of some family friends who will surely come to their aid.  It's a long journey, fraught with danger.  If they can survive the blistering heat, gnawing hunger, rabid thirst, feral animals, and desperate people they encounter, maybe just maybe, they can make it there in one piece.  As the grim days wear on, however, their chances of living through their ordeal grow slimmer and slimmer...

Growing up with a Secret Service agent who was obsessed with emergency preparedness, J.L. Esplin was born to write this kind of debut novel.  96 Miles is infused with real survival strategies that will fascinate anyone who's ever wondered what to do in a disaster scenario.  These tips add an intriguing element to the story, which is already taut, tense, and compelling.  John is a sympathetic character who's brave and resolute, even while he struggles under the pressure of making decisions in a brutal situation where the consequences of every choice can be dire.  He's determined to save his brother no matter what the cost, which makes him an appealing, root-worthy hero.  Although 96 Miles is a pretty straightforward dystopian/survival novel, there is a story swerve toward the end that caught me by surprise (although it really shouldn't have, considering...) and upped the ante for the boys considerably.  With an engrossing plot, likable characters, and skilled storytelling, 96 Miles is a riveting, immersive read.  Not only is it entertaining, but it's also thought-provoking, asking intriguing questions like:  How would I handle a crisis situation?  How would I act as things became increasingly desperate?  Would I keep my carefully-stocked supplies to myself or share them with others?  What decisions would I be forced to make and would I be able to live with myself afterward?  These discussion-worthy themes are just one more element that makes 96 Miles an excellent read.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Alone by Megan E. Freeman, Dry by Neal Shusterman, and other middle-grade/YA dystopian/survival novels)

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Elle Dross has been practicing for the Apocalypse for years thanks to her prepper grandfather.  She doesn't really believe in its inevitably, though, until she learns that a discredited Harvard professor is predicting that an asteroid will hit Earth in April.  It's possible the guy isn't totally legit, but what if he's right?  What if Grandpa Joe is right?  As scary as the end of the world could be, Elle knows her family would survive just fine.  So would her BFF Mack.  He might be blind, but he's run enough drills with her grandpa to know what to do.  Bonus:  Elle won't lose him to the blind school he plans to transfer to next year.  As for the rest of their middle school, their classmates, and all their drama?  The asteroid can blow it all to smithereens for all Elle cares.

Except.  Maybe it's her duty, as one of the few who believe in the prediction, to warn the people around her.  Before she knows it, she's running a secret doomsday club and printing an underground newsletter. Elle and her friends are prepared for anything—or are they?  As life changes around them, they all have to figure out how to deal with impending life shake-ups.  And some of those can be even more frightening than an asteroid hurtling towards Earth ...

Despite its rather dark premise, The World Ends in April by Stacy McAnulty is an upbeat, funny story that's mostly about friendship.  The characters are likable and relatable; it's easy to care about their problems and their fates.  Middle schoolers will relate to the theme of change, both in its inevitability and in its sometimes frightening nature.  Even though I'm not the book's target audience, I still really enjoyed this sweet, fun novel.  I especially appreciated the endnotes McAnulty includes, which give real, practical advice on emergency preparation as well as warning kids about how to find reliable information sources.

(Readalikes:  Um, nothing is coming to mind.  You?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for scary situations/ideas

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Dr. Doomsday knew the apocalypse was coming. Until the massive cyberterrorism attacks actually happened, though, his obsession with the end of the world just looked like paranoid delusion.  His constant prepping and drilling, not to mention the ranting and raving, led to the soiling of his reputation, the end of his marriage, and estrangement from his children.  Now that the country is in chaos, the world as she's known it crumbling to dust, his 17-year-old daughter, Susan "Jinx" Marshall, is asking (along with the rest of the nation), "Did Dr. Doomsday want the apocalypse to happen so badly that he caused it himself?"

The authorities seem to think the man behind the attacks is not Jinx's father, Dr. Max Marshall (aka Dr. Doomsday), but her stepdad, Jay Novac, who works in security at one of the banks that was targeted.  When a particularly menacing cop takes both Jay and Jinx's mother into custody, Jinx's mom urges her to run and find her father.  This isn't an easy task on a normal day.  It's even tougher with the police hot on her trail and two siblings—one a young diabetic, the other a know-it-all stepsister—in tow.  Channeling all the prepper rules her father drilled into her, Jinx must use every skill in her arsenal, no matter how desperate, to ensure the survival of herself, her family, and the world at large.

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Day Zero from the generous folks at Inkyard Press (an imprint of Harlequin) in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

(Image from Book Depository)

"I don't know who I am now the world is different" (261).

In the last three years, Rick Palmer has gone from a relatively normal father to a paranoid doomsday prepper.  After his wife took off, he poured his energy into educating himself and his three teenage daughters on how to survive the apocalypse he claims is imminent.  He drilled his kids on how to find water in the desert, how to conserve resources, how to set bones and perform emergency first aid, and most of all, how to slip out of their house and into their well-stocked bunker without giving away the secret of its existence.  Despite these frantic exercises, life in the Palmers' tiny Australian town is perfectly peaceful, even boring.  Prudence Palmer and her sisters are convinced their father is mad as the proverbial hatter.  They long for a normal, on-the-grid life full of the luxuries the other teens in town take for granted—smartphones, dates, regular school, parents who aren't off their rockers ...

Then, the lights go out in the Palmers' small village.  Communication with the outside world is cut off.  Confusion and chaos quickly replace order and reason.  With Rick missing—he hasn't returned from the distant mine where he works—it's up to Pru to decide the best way to keep herself and her sisters safe.  She knows she should retreat to the bunker immediately, but a chance meet-up with a handsome boy visiting from America, whose parent is also missing, gives her pause.  As fear and desperation settle over their once-peaceful town, Pru must ask herself some important questions.  Does she do what her father taught her and hoard her resources or defy his wishes and aid her helpless neighbors?  What kind of person is she really, when push comes to shove? 

I don't read as many dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels as I once did, but I still enjoy them when I do.  After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson was mentioned on some best-of-the-genre list, so I knew I wanted to read it.  It's not an easy book to get a hold of, though; luckily, Book Depository came through for me.  While there's nothing really original about After the Lights Go Out, it's still a tense, engrossing novel.  It's atmospheric, gritty, and compelling.  The plot moves quickly, the characters are intriguing, and the decisions Pru has to make throughout the story makes it a thought-provoking tale.  Like all books of this kind, it made me ask myself, "What would I do in this situation?"  It's an interesting thought.  All in all, then, I enjoyed this one, even if it's nothing I hadn't seen before.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of the Tomorrow, When the War Began series by John Marsden and lots of other dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of After the Lights Go Out from Book Depository with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Born to survivalist parents, Tara Westover became the seventh child in a very unconventional family.  Although her parents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they embraced their own extreme, fanatical version of the religion.  Living in a remote corner of Idaho, she and her siblings ran wild, helping their father sort scrap metal and prepare the family for the imminent end of the world.  Because the Westovers did not believe in modern medicine or the need for schooling, their brood received neither.  Even life-threatening wounds were treated only with natural remedies and prayer.  Mind-boggling ignorance about world history, current affairs, literature, science, and mathematics?  Ignored altogether.  Possessing a keen mind and a curiosity that wouldn't quit, Tara made the courageous decision to leave home in order to pursue an education.  She entered her first classroom ever as a 17-year-old college freshman.  Although at that point she knew little about even basic academic concepts, she went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University as well as an MPhil and PhD from Cambridge.

How Westover evolved from a feral, resourceless child to an ambitious, devoted scholar at prestigious universities is the subject of her first book, a memoir entitled Educated.  Her story is a testament to the power of education and the ability of an eager mind to triumph in even the grimmest situations.  It's also a coming-of-age tale about stepping out of a sheltered childhood into the alarming world of adulthood and subsequently trying to determine who you really are, what you actually believe, and where you truly belong.  The exploration of these intriguing themes make Educated a fascinating book and yet, it didn't blow me away like I expected it to due to all the accolades it has received.  It's raw and powerful for sure, but for me, at least, it ended up being a good read, not a great one.  

Why didn't Educated resonate with me as much as it has with so many other readers?  I think because (1) I found it more depressing than empowering, (2) it made me feel defensive of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (even though Westover insists this is not a book about Mormonism, it kinda is), and (3) Westover seemed to suggest that a person could not be both religious and educated, a stance with which I vehemently disagree.  Despite these hang-ups, though, I did find Educated interesting.  It brings up a lot of thought-provoking questions that would make for a lively book club discussion.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (no F-bombs), violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I purchased a copy of Educated from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.