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Summary and Reviews of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It

by Susan Beth Pfeffer
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (43):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2006, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2008, 360 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should Miranda's family prepare for the future?

Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, 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. Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

one

May 7

Lisa is pregnant.

Dad called around 11 o’clock to let us know. Only Mom had already taken Jonny to his baseball practice and of course Matt isn’t home from college yet, so I was alone to get the big news.

“The baby is due in December,” Dad crowed, like he was the first guy in the history of the world with a younger second wife about to have a baby. “Isn’t that great! You’re going to have a little brother or sister. Of course it’s too soon to tell what it’s going to be, but as soon as we know, we’ll tell you. I wouldn’t mind another daughter myself. The first one I had turned out so wonderfully. How’d you like a baby sister?”

I had no idea. “When did you find out?” I asked.

“Yesterday afternoon,” Dad said. “I would have called you right away but, well, we celebrated. You can understand that, can’t you, honey? A little private time for Lisa...

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Miranda's diary entries record her changing viewpoint as her perspective shifts from self-centered adolescent angst, through anger and petulance, to eventual resignation in this challenging coming-of-age novel that has drawn comparisons to Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now and The Diary of Anne Frank. Recommended for teens aged 13+...continued

Full Review (456 words)

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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

Media Reviews

School Library Journal - John Peters
Grade 6-8. The author provides a glimmer of hope at the end, but readers will still be left stunned and thoughtful.

VOYA
..the plot is plausible and appealing to readers who may not usually explore the genre, especially middle grade females.

Booklist - Ilene Cooper
Starred Review. Each page is filled with events both wearying and terrifying and infused with honest emotions. Pfeffer brings cataclysmic tragedy very close.

Children's Literature
This novel goes far beyond the expectations of a sci-fi novel, and the reader will not be disappointed in the ending.

Kirkus
Plausible science fiction with a frighteningly realistic reminder of recent tragedies here and abroad.

Reader Reviews

Khindra Brown

Life as we knew it
It’s about the moon getting close to earth and it may be the end of the world.
daniel lakew

life as we knew it
This book teaches humanity; how we need to be ready, and how people should come together to overcome of any natural disaster.
Mom of 2

Still making me think
I read this book 6 months ago and I still think about it often. It was a very exciting book and really made me wonder if I have what it takes to survive a tragedy such as this. I wish more middle schools would have the kids read this. There are ...   Read More
Raven Solis

Best Book Ever
A fiction book with realistic events. Full of drama and suspense and some humor. I couldn't book the book down even if I wanted to eat. An amazing book

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Beyond the Book



Susan Beth Pfeffer was born in New York City in 1948. She grew up in the city and its nearby suburbs and spent summers in the Catskill Mountains. When she was six her father wrote and published a book on constitutional law, and Pfeffer decided that she, too, wanted to be a writer. That year she wrote her first story, about the love between an Oreo cookie and a pair of scissors. However, it wasn't until 1970 that her first book, Just Morgan, was published. She wrote it during her last semester at New York ...

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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    National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson returns to future Earth in a sharply wrought satire of art and truth in the midst of colonization.

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