Young Adult | Book Chatter

This World We Live In
Susan Beth Pfeffer
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
April 2010
239pp

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

The Short of It:

A solid follow-up to the first two books. Equally engaging but lacking that element of surprise.

The Rest of It:

This World We Live In is book three in the Life As We Knew It series and I must say, it has been a very enjoyable series for me. Not enjoyable in the traditional sense but there’s something to be said for a book that completely takes you away to another time and place. This place being a world, devastated by a catastrophic event where food and water are no longer a given. In this book, Alex and Julie from book two cross paths with Miranda and her family and they are all forced to live with one another while trying to figure out what do with the lives that they’ve been given. Do they stay? Do they leave? Is there a future for them somewhere else?

If I were in this situation, I’d be terrified of venturing out into the unknown. Especially if I had children that I was responsible for and this is the situation here. Laura, does not want to leave the house. She is comfortable at home with her four kids, Miranda, Jon, Matt and his new wife Syl, but when Miranda’s dad shows up with his wife, a baby and three other strangers tension begins to rise. Some feel it would be better to move on, others feel it would be better to stay put and what about food? What little there was before now has to stretch to feed these additional people.

What I like about this series is that the characters are very resourceful and believable. There’s no getting comfortable when you have that many people trying to survive. They are constantly taking inventory and figuring out ways to get more of what they need. I was also very glad that the story was told from Miranda’s point of view. Much of the story is shared through her journal entries which lend an authentic air to the story. What I didn’t care for, was how fast she and Alex fell in love. I know there’s the whole “end of the world” thing going on but it didn’t seem right. The two personalities didn’t mesh for me. That’s really a small quibble because even though I didn’t buy the relationship, it did symbolize hope and put a positive spin on an otherwise dire situation.

This book didn’t have the same feel as the first two books because we’ve already been introduced to what created this situation and we’ve already gotten a feel for what’s it’s like to be hungry (and cold) but I say… read it anyway. This is gripping stuff. Once you pick it up, you have to finish it. I know this is the end of the line as far as the series, but it’s open-ended enough where there could be more books. Ms. Pfeffer? Are you listening?

Source: Jill was kind enough to send me her copy as I was like a puppy dog, pressing my nose up against the glass. Thanks Jill!

Mockingbird
By Kathryn Erskine
Penguin Young Readers
April 2010
224pp

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.

The Short of It:

Mockingbird is at once heartbreaking, sad and hopeful. It takes you by the hand, leads you down the path of love and loss and never lets you go.

The Rest of It:

Mockingbird is a special, little book. After Caitlin’s older brother Devon is killed in a school shooting, Caitlin and her father struggle to make it through their grief but they are constantly reminded of Devon and can’t seem to find closure. If that isn’t difficult enough, Caitlin suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome so what she sees is often black or white and nothing in between. What makes this story so special is that it’s told from Caitlin’s point of view. This means that when she feels overly anxious about loud noises or finds herself unable to read someone’s expression, we hear or see it from her perspective.

When I first picked this book up, I found it a tad hard to follow. Caitlin’s thought patterns are a bit jumbled and it takes a little bit of time to find the rhythm in her words, but when you do, you can’t help but feel her pain. She loved her brother. He was the only one in the family that “got” her. He anticipated her needs and without him around, she is forced to reassess how she communicates with others.

Here is a quote from page 21 which is where she wants to enter Devon’s room even though she’s been told not to:

I wish I could go in and say Devon, I’m hungry, and he’d grin and his dimples would show and he’d say, You and me both, and we’d go find Dad and order a pizza because it’s Thursday and we’d eat warm drippy extra cheese pizza in front of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

The other thing to note, is that all the dialogue is italicized. I got used to it and it did not detract from the story at all. Seeing things from Caitlin’s point of view was an incredibly powerful experience. This book is geared towards young adults but I think anyone reading it will be drawn to Caitlin. In one sense she is terribly complex but at the core, she is like any other eleven-year-old. She wants to be understood, she wants to fit in and she yearns for friends like any other kid her age.

Mockingbird is a quick but important read and if you’re wondering if there is a connection between this book and To Kill a Mockingbird, there is, but you’ll have to read the book to find out what it is.

Mockingbird comes out on April 15th but you can pre-order it now.

Source: This ARC was sent to me by the publisher via Shelf Awareness.

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