CHILDREN'S
Released: Jan. 31, 2012
"Sobering, thoroughly credible and, ultimately, optimistic about the chances of our better natures triumphing when the going gets rough. (Science fiction. 10-13)"
A family fleeing rapidly degenerating social order caused by world-changing volcanic eruptions finds respite and new heart in this well-crafted sequel to
Memory Boy (2001).
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Nov. 29, 2011
"This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes. (Science fiction. 12-14)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: Nov. 1, 2011
"Well-balanced, realistic suspense. (Post-apocalyptic suspense. 12 & up)"
After an apocalypse of devastating earthquakes and murderous mobs, four teenagers struggle to survive.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2011
"In this chilling debut, Mullin seamlessly weaves meticulous details about science, geography, agriculture and slaughter into his prose, creating a fully immersive and internally consistent world scarily close to reality. (author's note) (Speculative fiction. 14 & up)"
"The pre-Friday world of school, cell phones, and refrigerators dissolved into this post-Friday world of ash, darkness, and hunger."
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 13, 2011
"Splendidly paced apocalyptic zombie horror ends with a thrilling, terrifying cliffhanger and a number of unresolved mysteries. (Horror. 12-15)"
When civilization ends and you're faced with an army of face-eating, nuclear-mutant zombies, having a brain tumor doesn't seem so bad.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2011
"Even if events don't always quite hold together, it's such a racketing good time it doesn't matter. (Science fiction. 9-11)"
In this crackerjack adventure, a pair of Cockney trash-pickers and their spaceman friend seek a MacGuffin in the ruins of post-apocalyptic London.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2011
"At times heavy-handed, but the author's enthusiasm shines through. (Dystopia. 12-17)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: April 12, 2011
"All in all, this well-paced zombie-esque adventure in an urban wasteland will keep fans happy. (Science fiction. 13-15)"
A standard post-apocalyptic dystopia with enough rich worldbuilding to appeal to most lovers of the genre.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: May 1, 2010
"Told in the third person, this stark, surreal story sends an alarm to heed the warning signs of climate change or suffer a similar fate. (Science fiction. 12 & up)"
A gritty teen betrays his father and flees his grim existence in a post–global-warming Gulf Coast village to protect a young woman he barely knows in this gripping futuristic thriller.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2009
"Newbies will need the first volume to understand this one, and fans are given only a momentary respite as the author continues his tradition of cliffhanger endings. (Science fiction. 14 & up)"
Ness delivers a leaner, meaner narrative in the highly anticipated sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008).
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CHILDREN'S
Released: April 14, 2009
"But despite plot holes, more angst than action and an excess of philosophical meanderings, Mary's story delivers what's important: zombie apocalypse. (Science fiction. 12-14)"
It's been generations since the zombie apocalypse, and the people of Mary's village know they are the only living people left.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2008
"Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting. (Science fiction. 11 & up)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: Nov. 6, 2007
"As with classics such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, one can only hope that this vision of the future never becomes reality. (Science fiction. YA)"
Shusterman's Everlost (2006) dealt with death and children with a sense of innocence, redemption and even humor.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2007
"Moreover, the intricacy of this Western African milieu, with its multitude of shades of Islam, its contemporary and fantasy tribes and its geographical variations, is very welcome in the still mostly Eurocentric genre of fantasy. (Fantasy. 11-13)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2006
"Plausible science fiction with a frighteningly realistic reminder of recent tragedies here and abroad. (Fiction. YA)"
Sixteen-year-old Miranda begins a daily ten-month diary documenting the survival ordeal her rural Pennsylvania family endures when a large meteor's collision with the moon brings on destruction of the modern world and all its technological conveniences.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 31, 2001
"An absorbing tale set against a disturbing, plausibly developed background. (Fiction. 10-13)"
A suburban family flees the breakdown of law and order following a massive natural disaster in this tense near-future tale.
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