Life as We Knew It Author:Susan Beth Pfeffer Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother r... more »etreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove. Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.« less
ISBN-13: 9781606860601 ISBN-10: 1606860607 Pages:347 Reading Level: Young Adult Rating:
Wow...I love this book! The main character is wonderfully written. It is a beautiful tale of family. Not the depressing apocalyptic horror story-though an underlying element of stark and frightening realities. But this is a young girl's journal that is filled with love, strength, and hope. This book will cause you to think of every little thing you have to be thankful for and appreciate what is truly important. I was in tears at her writing of Christmas and I loved the ending. I will definitely be reading the books to follow. Again, Wow! I love this book!
This was a good book. It really made me think about my life and sorting priorities out and what I'd do if I was in this girl's situation. I just hope this can't really happen!
LIFE AS WE KNEW IT hooks you and doesn't let you go. Every time I had to take a break from reading, I stumbled out into the real world, where I was amazed to find that there was still plenty of food, water, electricity, and heat. Miranda's simple, diary-like language thus makes her story all that more believable. This novel is an incredible achievement.
The moon gets struck by an astroid and all hell breaks loose in the world.
Miranda is a teenager and whatever is happening in the world is doing so to make her miserable. She is keeps saying how much worse can it get? to the point where you want to scream at her to not be so selfish and stupid and look around at what is happening but that doesn't happen.
She is too self centered and stupid to continue this series.
YA post-apocalypse novel. Definitely suitable for YA as many of the uncomfortable things that would really happen are not even mentioned. But, OTOH, it's refreshing to read about apocalypse without wars, people killing each other over food, or cannibals! And there isn't any time spent on how the community is interacting; I kind of think people wouldn't hole up quite so much. But it's not really about that, the theme is family, so that's fine too. Excellent descriptions of the hardships that are endured - the confusion, the cold, the greyness, it goes on. Miranda is believable to me, although I'm so far from being 17 I couldn't tell you if she's believable to a person that age. Very engrossing. I see this is a series, and I am a little curious, but in the end this book was just a little too young for me to want more.
i liked the style and the mood of the book matched the subject without getting morbid. the auther showed quite realisticly what would happen to a family left with no food and only themselves to depend on. the form or a diary that it is written in makes for easy reading
In this disaster book, a large asteroid hits the moon and throws it out of orbit around the earth. The author actually sticks with some science and talks about tides changing and weather being affected. Of course there is the immediate panic of people. Utilities go out, fossil fuels run out, food runs out. The people in the book end up having to relearn how to live because of their circumstances. There are hardships both emotional and physical. To some people the characters may come across as "whiny", but I'd like to challenge the reader to imagine how they may feel in those circumstances. There have been a lot of comments about how certain situations were unrealistic, but I found it to be mostly spot-on, even if slightly exaggerated.
The book is written mostly as a journal with more detailed entries scattered within that are more of a narrative. I actually liked the format that the author decided to use.
This was such a wonderful book. It was so good that even my 8 and 10 year old boys couldn't wait for me to have an errand to run so we would be in the car so we could get back to listening to this gripping tale of struggle and trials for this girl, her family and the world around her. We had so many "What if..." type of conversations when our errands were done and our listening was done for that day. Kids can come up with some interesting questions...it was cool to see what they thought about this book and what we might do in the same situation. We agreed we like the moon just where it is.
What a poignant tale of the struggles one family endures after a catastrophic event. This Story is told from the point of view of a 16 year old girl who has to grow up very fast as they all fight for survival. A great story that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good read (or listen). This book has been nominated for the Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award this year and absolutely deserves this nomination.
This is a very compelling story. I sat down and read it all in one sitting. It drew me in and I couldn't quit reading it. I finished the book but can't quit wondering what happened to the characters in the story. It makes you more grateful for the little things in life we often take for granted, because they could be taken away from us just like that.
Loved this book! It was an all-night cover to cover read.
I recently have become interested in disaster prep and survival. I sometimes wonder if the teenagers I know have any idea how privileged they are to live in a time and place where life is relatively easy and they don't have a constant struggle to get the basics of food, water, shelter and sanitation. This book deals with tragedy and loss on a massive scale, and while people might debate the likelihood of anything like this happening, I think many of the hardships people underwent were realistically described and could happen in several scenarios.
