YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi: LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. 2008. LIFE AS WE KNEW IT. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 9780152061548.

               Miranda was an average teenager living in Pennsylvania with a pretty average life…until an asteroid hits the moon. Knocked closer to the Earth, the change in gravitational pull causes massive amounts of lethal natural disasters. Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and climate change put everyone’s life in danger. Miranda’s quick thinking Mom manages to quickly hoard supplies and keeps them on strictly rationed amounts of food, water, and fuel, determined to keep her family safe and alive. At first things seem bad, but there was hope things would soon get better. As time goes on, things only seem to be getting worse and worse. Miranda must come to terms with her new way of life, the sacrifice, and the death that surrounds her. She and her two brothers battle to survive, to keep the family whole, and to stay sane in the hardship and isolation of a world so rapidly changed. 

               This story is organized as a journal kept by Miranda to chronicle events, though it doesn’t always read as one. “A while ago Jonny asked me why I was still keeping a journal, who I was writing it for. I’ve asked myself that a lot, especially in the really bad times. Sometimes I’ve thought I’m keeping it for people 200 years from now, so they can see what our lives were like. Sometimes I’ve thought I’m keeping it for the day when people no longer exist but butterflies can read” (Pfeffer 336). The traumatic and sobering events caused by the moon seem frighteningly realistic. The day to day struggle for survival in such a situation is accurately portrayed through the writing, sometimes mundane but often dramatic. “Each page is filled with events both wearying and terrifying and infused with honest emotions” (Ilene Cooper (Booklist, Sep. 1, 2006).Miranda is a typical teenager who reacts in believable ways to what is going on, sometimes mature and sometimes extremely childish. Not only does she have to deal with survival, but she struggles with relationships with family friends and boys, while also battling her own inner turmoil. The need for survival is often at odds with her feeling of responsibility to her family and her own will. Readers can easily put themselves in Miranda’s place as she deals with mounting challenges and obstacles.   Although some suspension of disbelief may be necessary as to circumstances, the events are by far realistic. It’s hard for the reader to keep oneself from projecting the situation and not run to the window to make sure the moon is still in its rightful place and the world remains the same. 

               The story is set in present day, with a very realistic setting of rural Pennsylvania. The only elements of science fiction are the occurrences as a result of the asteroid hitting the moon. “Plausible science fiction with a frighteningly realistic reminder of recent tragedies here and abroad” (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2006).It clearly shows how science can impact everyday life, with the situation giving many reminders of earth and physical science in the real world. The themes go far beyond disaster and survival, to the examining of our most basic morals and values and how we would live up to them in extreme situations. Would I choose to starve to death to allow my brother to survive? Would I choose to stay and help the family, or leave and try to make it on my own? Would I resort to isolation, theft, decimation, or even murder if it meant my, or my family’s, survival? Am I prepared for a disaster? These and many other profound and thought-provoking questions race through the reader’s mind as they follow the struggles of Miranda and her family, wondering if the world will ever be the same again, and if all or any of them will survive. “The sense of doom in this fast-paced, speculative novel is overwhelming, but so, too, is the humanity of its characters and the will to survive” (CCBC, Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007).

Classroom Connections

-        Cross-curricular project with science where students study and research the effects of the moon on the Earth

-        Students could write their own science fiction stories which involve a realistically plausible situation

-        A Socratic circle discussion could be held, pulling specific situations from the story then discussing the different options available and how the students would choose to deal with them

Best Books:

Amazon Editors' Picks: Top 10 Books, 2006 ; United States
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2007 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Book Sense Children's Picks, Winter 2006/2007 ; American Booksellers Association; United States
Booklist Book Review Stars , Sep. 1, 2006 ; United States
Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2006 ; Booklist Editor's Choice; United States
Children's Pick of the List, 2006 ; NAIBA; United States
Choices, 2007 ; Cooperative Children’s Book Center; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to Ninth Edition, 2007 ; H.W. Wilson Company; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, October 16, 2006 ; Cahners; United States
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007 ; American Library Association; United States
YALSA Teens' Top Ten, 2007 ; American Library Association; United States

Awards, Honors, Prizes:

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2009 Winner High School Maryland
Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, 2009 Winner Washington
Garden State Teen Book Award, 2009 Winner Fiction Grades 6-8 New Jersey
Quill Awards, 2007 Nominee Young Adult/Teen United States
Sheffield Children's Book Award, 2008 Highly Commended Longer Novel United Kingdom