Life as We Knew It

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a recommended book for my upcoming 7th grader. It's the diary of a 16-year-old that chronicles her life before and after an astroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to earth. Tsunamis and earthquakes and volcanos begin to ravage the earth. Miranda, her brothers Matt and Jon, and her Mom must deal with one catastrophe after another. My daughter and I had a great discussion about what Miranda cared and worried about before the moon was struck, and what she cared and worried about after enduring so much. We also talked about the different ways her friends handled the situation: running away, becoming religious (and the ways religion could comfort us, and how we could turn religion around and think of bad things as God's punishment). I couldn't help but focus on "Mom" and how she had the forsight and determination to stockpile food, chop wood, conserve resources--preparing for the worst. (Next time you have to teach a self-reliance class and are looking for a new way to approach it, just assign this book--it makes you realize that even if you think you have enough food, you probably don't). I thought the characters were well-developed, and althought the situation was far out, the reaction to the situation was very real. In the end, there is a (somewhat) happy ending that was a little contrived but that's why we like our YA books.



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