Summary
Elle’s grandfather is a “prepper,” a survivalist. He is always prepared for a disaster or catastrophe. And he’s trained Elle and her younger brothers to be ready for unexpected disaster at any time. All three kids have go bags full of ready-to-eat meals, first aid supplies, etc.. Elle’s getting older, though, and she finds most of the survivalist stuff eye-rollingly dull. But her brothers still find the drills fun, and Elle’s best friend Mack thinks the whole thing is fascinating.
On a search for end-of-the-world memes to share with her grandfather, Elle stumbles across a website that says the world will end next spring due to an asteroid strike. She’s appropriately skeptical. But when she finds out the author of the web post is a professor at Harvard, and she researches other asteroid hits, Elle starts to wonder if the guy is onto something.
When other kids at school overhear Elle and Mack talking about “TEOTWAWKI” (The End of the World As We Know It), they beg for more information and check out the website for themselves. Before long, Elle finds herself leading a club of kids who want to know how to prepare for the asteroid strike and the end of the world.
Review
Elle grew on me over the course of this book. By the end I was quite attached to her, and my heart broke for her as things played out at the end of the story.
On one level this is Elle’s story. It’s about her family dynamics and her school experiences. It’s about her friendships and her protective abrasiveness. On another level you get all the science and survival bits along with information on screening internet sources. I was intrigued by the asteroid information shared. There’s a good chunk of back matter in this about asteroids and the author’s research.
I think this would be an excellent class read-aloud or book club book. How do readers see Elle’s choices for informing her peers about the impending doom? Are there things they are as passionate about as Elle? So many threads of the story students can dig into! And reading this with support will ensure some kids who might not otherwise get it understand Elle’s devotion to her cause. I thoroughly enjoyed how the author pulled everything together in the end.
Fans of the extraordinary The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl (like me!) should not miss the author’s latest work. If you aren’t a fan of either title yet, be sure to check them both out!