Told in a year's worth of journal entries,Ĭhronicles the human struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all-hope-in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. Worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun.Īs August turns dark and wintery in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat 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. Like one marble hitting another, when the moon slams closer to earth, the result is catastrophic. I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's still would be open. (Oct.Best-seller, when a meteor knocks the moon closer to earth, Miranda, a high school sophomore, takes shelter with her family in this heart-stopping post-apocalyptic thriller that's 'absorbing from first to last page.'* ( Miranda's changing priorities, undying love for her family and heightened appreciation of simple pleasures will likely provoke discussion and inspire gratitude for life as we know it now. Things are bad enough without having to remind myself of just how bad things are,' she explains), her words also evoke a strain of hope which proves to be her most essential survival tool. Though the entries paint a grim picture of a rapidly shrinking civilization ('I write stuff down in here and I don't read it.

The story unfolds through Miranda's journal entries, from May, when the asteroid strikes, to the following March. This survival tale by the author of The Year Without MichaelĬelebrates the fortitude and resourcefulness of human beings during critical times. The book may be lengthy, but most readers will find it absorbing from first page to last. Told in a years worth of journal entries, Life as We Knew It chronicles the human struggle to hold on to the most important resource of allhopein an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. Yet their situation becomes more critical as other unexpected disasters arise. When a meteor knocks the moon closer to earth, Miranda, a high school sophomore, takes shelter with her family. They have a pantry filled with canned goods and plenty of logs to fuel their wood-burning stove. Thanks to her mother's foresight and preparedness, Miranda and her two brothers are better off than many families in their Pennsylvania community.

Suddenly, things she has taken for granted-electricity, news from the outside world and three square meals a day-are a thing of the past. When an asteroid collides with the moon, causing natural disasters-tidal waves, volcanoes, earthquakes and climate changes-on Earth, life as 16-year-old Miranda knows it will never be the same.

Life as we knew it pfeffer