Summary: A post apocalyptical story about Miranda and her family struggling to stay alive after a meteor hits the moon and changes earth's daily cyclical pattern. The novel is told in the first person by Miranda, a teenager, who is dealing with her own teenage issues while trying to keep her family together and alive.
Citation: Pfeffer, S. B. (2006). Life as we knew it. Orlando: Harcourt.
Impression: This gripping novel makes any reader unable to put the book down. Even though the book is told through a teenage girl's perspective, any reader could empathize with her. The book also makes the reader reflect on his/her own life and how they would react in a similar kind of situation. After reading it I made a preparedness plan for my home in case I was out of electricity or gas for a while due to an emergency.
Review:
Allison Rheinhardt (Kutztown University Book Review)
After the moon is knocked off it’s axis when a meteor hits, the world is not the same for anybody. The fear is seen through the eyes of Miranda, a 16-year-old girl who lives in Northeast Pennsylvania. The news begins reporting devastating events all over the world, like tsunamis that have wiped out Alaska, Hawaii, and New York City. The electric begins to go off and on sporadically, there is a riot like atmosphere in the grocery stores. Summer passes with sweltering heat, no sun, no crops, and an overpopulation of mosquitoes. The worst is yet to come when winter hits. Miranda’s family struggles to stay warm, battle hunger pangs, and fight a virus that becomes an epidemic in the neighborhood. Miranda is wondering when the world will turn around, and become what she remembers as life as we knew it. This book is eerie and a bit horrifying in that it could actually happen. As scary as it was, it was also a really good read, reminding the readers that Mother Nature is unpredictable. This book is easily my new favorite book.
Rheinhardt, A. (2007, Spring). [Review of the book Life as we knew it by S.B. Pfeffer]. Kutztown University Book Review. Retrieved from http://kutztown.edu/acad/coe/ls/
April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
Miranda’s ordinary life is disrupted, along with the lives of literally everyone else in the world, when an unexpectedly dense meteor hits the moon. Immediately, entire countries are lost to tsunamis, quickly followed by volcanic eruptions, rampant disease, and starvation that cause the deaths of millions more. On a much smaller scale, Miranda, her two brothers, and mother are just trying to survive the winter in their own small home. The slow unfolding of events, told in diary entries that vary in length and intensity, creates a riveting and deeply frightening account of the individual experience of a worldwide catastrophe. Although Miranda writes at length about new horrors and unexpected consequences of the meteor, she is also remarkably realistic as she also journals her avoidance of homework and her meditations on kissing boys. The story is effectively constructed: the personal connection with Miranda and her conscious acceptance of the fact that few humans can mourn for tragedy every second keeps the unceasing tribulations of the larger world from becoming overwhelming to the reader. It is certainly to the author’s credit that this post-convenience, dangerous world actually sounds inviting on occasion and often raises intriguing questions: readers will inevitably imagine their own responses to such a global event and may even envy Miranda’s uncomplicated appreciation of her simpler but more joyful life.
April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
Miranda’s ordinary life is disrupted, along with the lives of literally everyone else in the world, when an unexpectedly dense meteor hits the moon. Immediately, entire countries are lost to tsunamis, quickly followed by volcanic eruptions, rampant disease, and starvation that cause the deaths of millions more. On a much smaller scale, Miranda, her two brothers, and mother are just trying to survive the winter in their own small home. The slow unfolding of events, told in diary entries that vary in length and intensity, creates a riveting and deeply frightening account of the individual experience of a worldwide catastrophe. Although Miranda writes at length about new horrors and unexpected consequences of the meteor, she is also remarkably realistic as she also journals her avoidance of homework and her meditations on kissing boys. The story is effectively constructed: the personal connection with Miranda and her conscious acceptance of the fact that few humans can mourn for tragedy every second keeps the unceasing tribulations of the larger world from becoming overwhelming to the reader. It is certainly to the author’s credit that this post-convenience, dangerous world actually sounds inviting on occasion and often raises intriguing questions: readers will inevitably imagine their own responses to such a global event and may even envy Miranda’s uncomplicated appreciation of her simpler but more joyful life.
Spisak, A. (2006, December). [Review of the book Life as we knew it by S.B. Pfeffer]. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 60(4).
Michele Winship (VOYA)
Mirroring recent history, this novel reminds readers of the wild power of nature that far outstrips human ability to either predict or control it. Pfeffer's science fiction holocaust story is not the predictable aftermath of a nuclear disaster across the globe, but the intimate portrayal of a slowly disintegrating family struggling to believe in a future following an asteroid's collision with the moon and the devastating after-effects on earth. With just enough science to frame the fiction, the plot is plausible and appealing to readers who may not usually explore the genre, especially middle grade females. The narrator is sixteen-year-old Miranda, who documents her life for readers through journal entries, an effective way for the author to address external as well as internal conflict. In a voice reminiscent of Anne Frank's, Miranda represents every teenage girl who will relate to her struggling to make sense of early romance, transforming friendships, and the family unrest characteristic of coming-of-age. Pfeffer's strength lies in portraying the complex relationships in a blended and extended family focused on survival, and the challenges that both draw them together and tear them apart. She also creates unlikely heroes in her secondary characters, who teach Miranda that if she reaches down deep enough, she is stronger than she ever thought she could be.
Michele Winship (VOYA)
Mirroring recent history, this novel reminds readers of the wild power of nature that far outstrips human ability to either predict or control it. Pfeffer's science fiction holocaust story is not the predictable aftermath of a nuclear disaster across the globe, but the intimate portrayal of a slowly disintegrating family struggling to believe in a future following an asteroid's collision with the moon and the devastating after-effects on earth. With just enough science to frame the fiction, the plot is plausible and appealing to readers who may not usually explore the genre, especially middle grade females. The narrator is sixteen-year-old Miranda, who documents her life for readers through journal entries, an effective way for the author to address external as well as internal conflict. In a voice reminiscent of Anne Frank's, Miranda represents every teenage girl who will relate to her struggling to make sense of early romance, transforming friendships, and the family unrest characteristic of coming-of-age. Pfeffer's strength lies in portraying the complex relationships in a blended and extended family focused on survival, and the challenges that both draw them together and tear them apart. She also creates unlikely heroes in her secondary characters, who teach Miranda that if she reaches down deep enough, she is stronger than she ever thought she could be.
Winship, M. (2006, October). [Review of the book Life as we knew it by S.B. Pfeffer]. VOYA, 29(4)
Uses: This book was made into an audiobook and the library could accompany both the book and audiobook in a book display along with other similar young adult books with audiobooks. This would help promote the audio collection of the library as well as inspire young adults to look into alternative forms of reading. A link to the digital collection with additional access information could be displayed, to promote the newer technologies that the library has to offer. Since this book deals with post-apocalyptic issues this could stimulate intriguing discussions that could be on the library's blog, Tweet, or Facebook sites. This book would be a great way to start a virtual book discussion with the younger patrons of the library.
Uses: This book was made into an audiobook and the library could accompany both the book and audiobook in a book display along with other similar young adult books with audiobooks. This would help promote the audio collection of the library as well as inspire young adults to look into alternative forms of reading. A link to the digital collection with additional access information could be displayed, to promote the newer technologies that the library has to offer. Since this book deals with post-apocalyptic issues this could stimulate intriguing discussions that could be on the library's blog, Tweet, or Facebook sites. This book would be a great way to start a virtual book discussion with the younger patrons of the library.
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