Life as we Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

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Audience: Middle School

Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Miranda’s life is about to change – along with everyone else on earth. When astronomers first report that meteor is going to collide with the moon, people head outside to watch. But when the collison knocks the moon out of orbit and closer to earth, life on earth changes forever. There are tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, and major changes in the weather patterns. Miranda’s journal reflects on both life as she knew it, and also life as she now knows it – difficult and scary.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) This book is scarily haunting! I have been having end-of-the-world dreams since I read it and have a huge desire to run out and stock up on soup and tuna fish. How horrible would it be if something like this ever came true? As you read Miranda’s journal, didn’t you feel like you wanted to reach in and help her? It was so painful to read as she and her family slowly starved because Pfeffer’s writing was so realistic.

In the beginning I didn’t feel like Miranda had much of a character – it was the events happening around her the made me want to keep reading and I cared more about her sacrificing mom and brave brothers than I really did about her. This began to change as Miranda began to change. Of all the people in the book, I think it took Miranda the longest to realize that her life was irrevocably changed. She kept waiting for things to go back to how they were and it was along time before she realizes that was impossible.

At the end, when Miranda decides to go on a death march into town to spare her family the agony of watching her die, I was shocked. It really shows how much she’d matured from the beginning when all she did was cause conflict. It makes me so sad to think that they could have had four more weeks of comfort and food, but that they didn’t know enough to sign up for it. I wonder how many families died not knowing that they could have lived?

As I read this I kept thinking that there could be so much more to this story. I wanted to know how things were in other parts of the world or what life would be like in the years after the lunar collision. Well Pfeffer and I must think alike because she just released a companion novel, The Dead and Gone. I haven’t read it yet, but from what I’ve researched, it’s NOT a sequel, it’s about another character’s struggle to survive. It’s now on my list of books to read… Pfeffer is also working on a third book called The World We Live In, due out Spring 2010 that weaves together characters from both books. I’ll post more details when I find them!

Questions:

What will happen to Miranda and her family?

Do you think her dad, Lisa, and the baby survived?

What would be the hardest part of living in Miranda’s world?

Keep reading!

-Paige

Buy Life as We Knew It from Amazon