Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer

The book that I have just finished is Life As We Know It by Susan Pfeffer. The book is told in Miranda the protagonist’s diary entries as she and her family struggle to survive. When the moon is hit by a meter and is pushed closer to earth’s orbit the world is sent into chaos. The supermarkets run out of food, the price of gas is more than ten dollars a gallon and schools are closed. When it starts to snow early in September Miranda realizes the fact that this isn’t getting better anytime soon. The book shows the hardships of survival and also the love of family and the little joys in life. 

 Over the course of the book Miranda matures from the beginning when she pigs out on chocolate and is mad when her mom says that they should cut back on food to make it last longer to the end where she decides she would rather die to save her family than live.  In a crisis, everyone needs to step up to the plate in every way possible and that is what Miranda and her family do. In the beginning Miranda and her mom fight, but in the end, Miranda will do anything to make sure her mom is eating and is healthy even if that means visiting the elderly neighbor Ms. Nesbitt to discuss the dismal future. These are only a few examples of how Miranda matures over the course of the story.

 I would recommend this book to 11 and up because of the topic of the moon getting hit by a meter and sending the world into chaos. I highly recommend this book to people who like novels about survival and an apocalypse that could actually happen.