Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is an apocalyptic read about our present day world gone horribly wrong when a massive asteroid collides with the moon moving it closer to the earth. Natural disasters begin occurring at a scary rate, volcanic ash blocks the view of the sun completely, people begin running out of food and water, all electricity is lost, and what was a pretty decent life on earth quickly turns to life in hell within a few hours.
The books is written in a diary format. Miranda, a 16 year old girl (who turns 17 towards the end of the book), journals all the events of her family's daily life during this end-of-the-world time. She dates each of her entries showing that the book takes place over about 10 months. One thing that I find interesting about the format the author chose to use is that she includes dialogue in her journal entries. So, it doesn't always read like a diary.
One other formatting choice made by the author was to divide the book into 4 sections according to season. This helps the reader to keep track of what normal life would have been like if the asteroid incident had never occurred.
This novel has many of the characteristics of true YA lit. that we've been discussing: a teenage protagonist, discussions of teenage relationships (yes, even in the midst of an apocalypse), and trouble with parents. The trouble with parents in this book is a little different. Miranda's mom is present and she has a good relationship with her despite the occasional argument. Her parents are divorced and her dad lives in a different state so they don't get to see him often, but they keep in touch. Miranda and her siblings even joke in the book that if their parents had worked as hard on their marriage as they do on making sure they keep a good relationship throughout their divorce, for the sake of their kids, they would have had the best marriage in the history of the world. So, all in all, Miranda's parents are more present than a lot of parents in YA lit.
I was thankful to have the chance to read the article Dystopian and the Apocalypse: What's The Difference? because I really wasn't sure how to categorize this book (or others I'd read for that matter) prior to reading it. I, as previously mentioned, would classify this as apocalyptic because of the absence of the government. For much of the book Miranda and her family have zero contact with the outside world and, as far as their concerned, they might be the last 4 people alive on the face of the earth. They hope that the government is interfering somewhere to try and get life back to normal, but they certainly aren't running the lives of the remaining living people. (As a side note - I felt confident in my choice for the category of apocalyptic when I looked this book up on Barnes & Noble's website and they had classified it the same way).
There are a lot of classroom applications I can see being useful with this book, three of which are: 1) using this text in a history class to have students draw parallels to an event in history and the novel. Taking that one step further, have students take a guess as to some of the things we might experience and/or have to survive in the future, 2) reading the book about 3/4 of the way through and then have students write their own ending since there are so many possibilities for what might happen. The biggest twist happens in the last few pages and I doubt very many students would guess the actual ending (I'd use this assignment in an ELA class), and 3) this book could also be used in a science classroom where students have to write a research paper or create a presentation showing some of the real-life effects that would happen if an asteroid moved the moon closer to earth.
I wouldn't be concerned about the content of this book for any teenager, so long as they understand the true definition of an apocalyptic novel and feel comfortable reading that kind of material - it is a heavy read, being that the world is coming to an end and all. I would recommend this book for 6th or 7th on up, though I think that older kids (high school) might have a greater appreciation for this read. I would say, due to the plot line, that boys might enjoy it more than girls, but I think the female protagonist negates that and boys and girls alike would really enjoy this book.
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