This is the first book I have read, I believe, by the writing Shustermans.  It is an excellent tale and apparently is already being made into a movie.

Set in the present, the good folks of already water-starved California are thrown into immediate crisis when the neighboring states of Arizona and Nevada suddenly shut off California’s access to the Colorado River.  It doesn’t take long at all for individuals, families, and communities to descend into chaos in their search for this basic requirement for life.

Five teenagers come together after their parents become unavailable, and in the best tradition of young adult books they set out to save themselves, learning much about themselves, others, and what’s important in life along the way. The book is full of adventure, serious observations and lessons, friendship, and a little romance.  Hard choices are made that promise to be difficult to live with.  A wide variety of humanity is represented.

The book is well-plotted, – paced, and -written.  There is some violence and threatened violence. There is a lot of bad language, mostly of the hell-shit-damn variety, but it is not gratuitous.

This is a book I would put on school library shelves and recommend to young adults and adults alike.

At the end of the book is extensive commentary by the authors about their writing choices for the book.  I wish authors would not do this, and I didn’t read it, but some people may find it interesting.

Categories: Books We Recommend, Crime, Death and Grieving, Grief, Natural Disasters, Navigating through High School, Navigating through Middle School, Offensive Language in YA Literature, Parent Conflict, Peer Relationships, Political Activism, Violence

Tags: Book Censorship, California, California in YA Fiction, Climate Change, Colorado River, Costco, Divorce in YA Fiction, Doomsday Preppers, Drone Spying, Drones, Droughts in YA Fiction, Environmental change, Friendship, Gun Violence, High School, Home Preparedness, Human Trafficking, Jarrod Shusterman, Library Book Selection, Library Collection Development, Marijuana Use in YA Fiction, Martial Law, Middle School, Mob Behavior, Natural Resource Management, Neal Shusterman, Purchasing YA Fiction, Purchasing Young Adult Books, Purchasing Young Adult Literature, Romance in YA Fiction, School Friendships, Self-Defense Killing, Sexual Harrassment, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, YA Book Reviews, YA Book Selection Criteria, YA Fiction, YA Fiction Reviews, YA Literature, YA Romance, Young Adult Book Reviews, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fiction Reviews, Young Adult Literature