review: Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It

by; Susan Beth Pfeffer

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.

Veteran author Susan Beth Pfeffer, who penned the young adult classic The Year Without Michael over twenty years ago, makes a stunning comeback with this haunting book that documents one adolescent's journey from self-absorbed child to selfless young woman. Teen readers won't soon forget this intimate story of survival and its subtle message about the treasuring the things that matter most—-family, friendship, and hope.--Jennifer Hubert --

young adult | teens | post-apocalyptic | sci-fic { genre
13+ { rating
May 1, 2008 { date released
Graphia (360 Pages) { edition
borrowed { acquisition
Amazon.com { purchase @

Why exactly I picked out this book?
The big, humongous moon, on the cover kinda entice me. Then, the book description pulls me in and I thought, "Hey, why not." Post-apocalyptic.. ohh yeaahhhh

My Thoughts ♠♠♠♠♠ ♥

This is the "Book of the Month" for The bookclub I have joined a few years back, and the difference this time, is I actually pick up and read this one due to the attraction of a "post-apocalyptic" genre I enjoy so much. This is a story of a family, who has to endure a life change as a comet crashed onto the moon, which, in horror, brought it closer to Earth. This is Miranda's diary of her day to day account, along with her family. Her hardship with them, her frustrations, the changes she, her family and the rest of the people she knew have to endure. The plots, scenes and the characters within this book is so absorbing, I ended up drowning in deep enough, that when I look up, I actually thought, "Oh good, Electricity back on for today." and I spent a while to get oriented back into the real world.

Personal Note: The only reason why I stayed with this book for 2 weeks was because I was (still) sick, hence I keep stopping *alot*

Librarian Muse
Yes, I would love to have this one in my library. It would interest any sort of students, who loves science-fiction. I would certainly recommend it to be a "Readers Set" for Year 9 (Secondary 3) up