Children's books and book reviews - reading resource for kids, teachers, librarians, parents

Young adult book reviews for ages 12 and up - middle school and high school students




*Gone* by Michael Grant- young adult book review
 
Also by Michael Grant:

Gone: A Hunger Novel
 
Gone
by Michael Grant
Grades 7+ 576 pages Katherine Tegen Books April 2009 Paperback    

On an ordinary fall day in Perdido Beach, California, everyone over the age of fourteen disappears. Poof! And just like that, all the adults are Gone. Babies and toddlers are left to their own devices, bullies run rampant, and chaos reigns. It is clear that organization is needed, so when students from nearby Coates Academy sail into town proclaiming a strangely powerful Cain Soren their leader, the kids of Perdido Beach are initially relieved. But when it becomes obvious that Cain’s leadership is narcissistic, the majority turn to their own Sam Temple for guidance.

Sam has discovered that a dome-like wall surrounds the area, and the kids are prisoners of what is now known as the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) with the nuclear power plant directly at its center. It soon becomes apparent that animals and humans alike are mutating (Sam included) with extraordinary powers.

When a talking coyote known as Pack Leader begins doing the bidding of a bizarre creature known simply as The Darkness, things become even more dangerous. Add in that on each child’s fifteenth birthday they disappear into the unknown, and you’ve got tension galore. As both Caine and Sam come closer to “poof” time, the community takes sides and, as in most apocalyptic tales, there is a battle between good and evil. But regardless of who wins, the kids of Perdido Beach are still stuck in the FAYZ. Will life ever be normal again?

Michael Grant is no stranger to series fiction. He also writes the successful Animorphs books. Gone is book one in a six-book series. The second book, Hunger, is available now, and the third, Lies, will be the next release. The fourth book is tentatively titled Plague, and the rest are still a mystery - even to Mr. Grant, who could easily pass as the Stephen King of the young adult genre.

If you’re looking for suspense you really must get started on this series - and do it before they’re all Gone.
 
Young adult book reviews for ages 12 and up - middle school and high school students

click here to browse children's board book reviews
click here to browse children's picture book reviews
click here to browse young readers book reviews
click here to browse young readers book reviews
click here to browse young adult book reviews
click here to browse parenting book reviews
 
web reviews
  Niki Masse Schoenfeldt/2009 for curled up with a good kid's book  






For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews,
visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)