Ratings3
Average rating3.3
When an unthinkable nuclear attack occurs in an alternate-reality 1962, Scott is forced into his father's bomb shelter with his family and neighbors, where they rapidly consume limited supplies and fear the worst about the fate of the world outside. By the best-selling author of The Wave.
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Imagine you are 12 years old and there is a threat of nuclear war over your head. That was reality for a lot of 5/6th graders in the early 60s as the Cuban Missile Crisis loomed.
Strasser gives us a view into what might have happened on one block if only one family had built a bomb shelter. The kids will be kids chapters flashbacks may be confusing to some for timeline reasons, but from a reading perspective, they are interesting and really ground us in the time and with our characters.
The dialogue, characters, and plot are all in line, but I felt like this book was a little too scary. The big injury is needed to motivate discussions of worthiness and race that the book also tries to touch on, but I don't know that it needed to be what it was. I'm not sure what kids would make of that.
Kids reading this book likely have lots of questions - or should be prompted because there are some talkable topics: bullying, stealing, sex, alcohol, racism, ableism...along with nuclear war.
