Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (cover image from Amazon.com)Bibliography: Pfeffer, S. B. (2006). Life as we knew it. Boston, MA: Harcourt Children's Books. ISBN: 978-0152058265
SUMMARY
Miranda, a high school sophomore, is a typical teen. In her journal, she writes about her friends, boys and the upcoming school dance, barely mentioning the news reports that a meteor is hurtling its way toward the moon. Much to the dismay of everyone on the planet, the meteor knocks the moon off of its orbit, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters and wiping out hundreds of thousands of people. Miranda and her family scramble for supplies and attempt to stay safe and alive during the coming months. She continues to write in her journal, commenting on how her town copies with the disaster and her own growing frustration as they run out of food, water and compassion for the people around them, despite trying to live as "normally" as possible.
MY IMPRESSIONS
I'm a big fan of dystopian stories, so I liked Life As We Knew It. Pfeffer creates a believable narrator in Miranda, who is initially more concerned about school homework than a potential cataclysmic disaster. Like a young adult with limited perspective and experience, when it finally occurs, Miranda focuses on her annoyance at the inconveniences of food, lack of electricity and unreliable telephone communication instead of on the rising death toll and potential risk for her and her family. While sometimes frustrated at her lack of big-picture vision, Miranda's take is more realistic of how life would be should a catastrophic event happen on the planet (which, by the way, makes me think of this.) It would be nearly impossible to find out for sure what was happening across the world or get in touch with relatives outside the city. Daily life would shrink down to here and now. The small pleasures, like pancakes or the chance to swim with a friend, would seem like great rewards in the face of rationing, uncertainty and lack. Pfeffer captures the anxiety, panic and passivity of Miranda's family as they try to cope with their new reality. It's fascinating and heart breaking to read the story as Miranda is forced to grow up quickly and make decisions that can save (or endanger) her family, like when the kitchen stove gets wet and starts spewing out smoke while her family is sick with the flu.
While this book is serious and deals with life or death matters, it offers a chance for readers to reflect on how they would react in a similar situation. The ending is slightly unresolved, which is fitting given the plot of the story. Miranda and her family overcome numerous obstacles and change dramatically by the end of the book. Overall, a very engaging and enjoyable read.
ACTIVITIES
This book would be appropriate for a discussion with grades 7 to 12, mostly due to the adult themes.
1. In what ways did Miranda's mother improve their ability to survive the aftereffects of the meteor strike?
2. How would you have reacted if you heard that a meteor was going to strike the moon? Why do you think Miranda reacted the way that she did?
3. If a major disaster struck the Earth, where would you go to escape and why? Who would you bring with you?
4. Name the five most important things you'd want to have with you to stay alive and stay sane if you were Miranda.
5. How did Miranda's friendship with Megan change after the disaster?
6. What did you think of the ending of the book? What do you think will happen to Miranda and her family?
2007 Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
2007 YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
Booklist Editor's Choice for 2006: Older Readers Category
2006 Junior Library Guild Premier Selection
Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice
Rhode Island Teen Book Award
REVIEWS
"Pfeffer tones down the terror, but otherwise crafts a frighteningly plausible account of the local effects of a near-future worldwide catastrophe. The prospect of an asteroid hitting the Moon is just a mildly interesting news item to Pennsylvania teenager Miranda, for whom a date for the prom and the personality changes in her born-again friend, Megan, are more immediate concerns. Her priorities undergo a radical change, however, when that collision shifts the Moon into a closer orbit, causing violent earthquakes, massive tsunamis, millions of deaths, and an upsurge in volcanism. Thanks to frantic preparations by her quick-thinking mother, Miranda's family is in better shape than many as utilities and public services break down in stages, wild storms bring extremes of temperature, and outbreaks of disease turn the hospital into a dead zone. In Miranda's day-by-day journal entries, however, Pfeffer keeps nearly all of the death and explicit violence offstage, focusing instead on the stresses of spending months huddled in increasingly confined quarters, watching supplies dwindle, and wondering whether there will be any future to make the effort worthwhile. The author provides a glimmer of hope at the end, but readers will still be left stunned and thoughtful."–John Peters, New York Public Library from School Library Journal
"...Miranda's world is literally ripped apart when an asteroid hits the moon, shifts it from its orbit and throws the earth into chaos. The story, told through a series of entries in Miranda's journal, chronicles the heroine's and her family's efforts to survive in a world where staying warm and having enough to eat and drink becomes the day-to-day priority. [Pfeffer] skillfully captures Miranda's adolescent angst with all its emotional highs and lows."
Publishers Weekly, December 11, 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment