A World In Turmoil

Have you ever thought about the things that matter most to you? Who or what gives your life meaning? In Susan Beth Pfeffer's grip-ping page-turner, Life As We Knew It,  Miranda, a Pennsylvania high school student, has the usual concerns: shifting friendships, the admiration of boys,  exams, and grades. When news reports indicate that an asteroid is on a collision course with the Moon, Miranda, along with her friends and neighbors, is fascinated, but not unduly concerned. However, when the asteroid does hit the Moon, the stage is set for an unprecedented global disaster, because the Moon is pushed into a closer orbit, causing a series of unimaginable climatic changes on Earth - tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and devastating storms. Miranda's priorities suddenly change, as she now must focus on helping to keep her family alive as the number of deaths mount, starvation looms, and epidemics rage. How does one find hope in a bleak future, with every day a constant struggle for the basic essentials of life? The Dead And The Gone, the next title in the series, documents the disaster in New York City through the eyes of high school senior Alex Morales, who must come to grips with the fact that his parents are dead, while simultaneously trying  to keep his sisters alive. In This World We Live In, the last volume in the trilogy, which takes place one year later, Miranda and Alex meet, and try to find normalcy, other survivors, and perhaps, love, in the midst of chaos. I have just learned that Ms. Pfeffer has just submitted a fourth volume in this series to her publisher.