by Susan Beth Pfeffer
I read a dystopian novel series recently, called Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I thought it was very interesting because it is very close to our world right now. It’s about a girl living in the present day Earth, and an asteroid knocks the moon off course. This causes abnormal tides and tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Everyone stays at home since the ash from the volcanoes is filling the air.
I found these books interesting because this was very much like our life during the pandemic, when we had to quarantine. Clouds of ash block the sun, and Earth is thrown into an early winter. Electricity is down, crops die and diseases spread. Miranda’s friends either leave their Pennsylvania town, hoping to find a better life by heading south, or die of starvation. As snow comes early, the family eats one meal a day, trying to conserve their decreasing supply of canned foods until things improve.
I think that this book is very good because it examines the human spirit during humanity’s lowest. There’s no happy ending, but there is a glimpse of hope which makes me want to read the next one. I believe the lesson we can take from this is maturity, growth, hope and family are the ingredients to survival.
Overall, this was a very good book. The next ones in the series are too.